Monday Musings

I know that probably 70 billion+ women have wondered this who even knows how many times, but how do you know when your contractions are actually labor? I've had contractions, mainly at night, for 5 days now. Right now they are about 7-8 minutes apart, and part of me is saying, "We have a 2 1/2 hour drive. Let's go!" while another part of me is saying, "It's 2:00 in the morning, and I don't want to wake everyone up and drag them out of bed if this isn't the real thing." The biggest problem is, until this afternoon, Joshua was facing out, and now he is facing in (towards my spine) which is much better for birth (yay!) but a little harder to tell what's going on contraction-wise. Anyways, only time will tell. I'll post again when I can...

Baby Update- Still No Baby

Not sure how much the blog will get updated when labor really begins, so I wanted to assure you guys there is still no baby. I generally take the weekends off blogging to spend time with the family, so don't be concerned (or excited) if you don't see me for a couple of days. I will be back tomorrow unless we head to the hospital before then...

30 Days of Thanks: Day 27

Today I am thankful to have made it "full term" with this baby! Although I have a tendency to see Emma as pretty much perfect, I know that we had a lot of problems when she was first born that can be attributed mainly to her prematurity, and I am so thankful to have made it to the official 37 weeks with Joshua. Not that I am in a hurry to sign his eviction notice now. All we learned with Emma taught me that it is best to let babies come on their own, so he can stay as long as he would like.

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 14

Today I am thankful that I'm still pregnant. At 35 weeks 2 days, we are now in uncharted territory as I had Emma at 35 weeks 1 day. So I am thankful for good blood pressure, good movement, and a normal fetal heartbeat. In other words, a healthy pregnancy! Here's to a full-term baby!

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 13

Today I am thankful that my blood pressure is still normal. By this point in my pregnancy with Emma, I had been admitted to the hospital and induction was underway due to extremely (and dangerously) high blood pressure. At my last prenatal appointment, my blood pressure was 120/72. Woohoo!

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 12

Today I am thankful (and very excited) that I found my winter maternity clothes yesterday. They have been MIA for a while now, and I have searched and searched everywhere I could think of to find them. I remember seeing them when I got out my summer maternity clothes, so I knew they were around somewhere. I finally found them in a tub on top of my washing machine, which had been covered up by a few blankets that I had not gotten around to washing. I washed one yesterday, partially uncovering the tub and before I went to go look in the garage for the 3rd time, I decided to peek in the box since I was already in the laundry room. Voila! Mystery solved. And I sure am glad because even with all this extra heat my baby is generating, I will still be needing them before too long and maternity clothes are EXPENSIVE, so I refuse to buy more if I know I have some hanging around somewhere.

30 Days of Thankfulness: Days 9 & 10

I can't believe I made 2 posts yesterday and forgot about my 30 days of thankfulness! Well, I'll just be thankful twice today :)

First (#9) I'm thankful for great friends and family who have supported me and my decisions about this upcoming birth. Having a natural birth with a midwife is bizarre enough in today's society, but here in what I fondly refer to as the middle of nowhere, it is even crazier. Everyone already thinks I'm a little nuts for my extended breastfeeding and cloth diaper usage, but now I want to have a midwife too!? LOL Thanks to all of you who support me (and even those of you who think I'm crazy but keep that to yourself!) because it doesn't help anything at all to have negativity surrounding you all the time.

Second (#10) I'm thankful for my new pillow I was able to buy today. My neck has hurt for about 4 or 5 days now, sometimes resulting in some pretty bad headaches. I went and bought a new pillow today (which was even on sale!) and I'm hoping a nice thick, firm pillow will resolve that for me.

30 Days of Thankfulness: Day 5

I'm thankful for God's miracles in our everyday lives. Specifically the miracle of pregnancy and birth. I love to watch our son move inside me, to be able to physically see and feel his movements as he grows within me. What a gift God has given us. Contrast this to birds who simply just wait for their babies to hatch. Yes, there are discomforts of pregnancy, but even these serve as reminders of the life God has placed in our hands- heartburn, back pain, overstretched muscles, and tiny feet in your ribcage, even swelling and carpal tunnel syndrome all are evidence of the miracle within, so I thank God for that experience.

Nesting

My nesting is a little different from most, but it has definitely begun. I have received my first newborn size cloth diapers in the mail. I found an awesome deal on some (9) used preemie/newborn size prefolds, a size small Thirsties wrap, a newborn size Bummis wrap, and a newborn insert from envirobabystore.com They have some of the best deals I have seen on used cloth diaper products. Many online stores sell them for not much less than they cost brand new, but I got all of that for $17.02 including tax and shipping!

I have also won a gift certificate to their store for $25 which I used to purchase 3 used Bumgenius AIOs in a size small (my first AIO diapers!), 3 Prowrap covers in newborn, and another newborn doubler.

I've received the custom (build-your-own style) newborn size fitted diaper I won from Bum Covered diapers in the cutest guitar fabric! I am so excited to have my newborn stash started!

Another try?

I'm not sure if it's worth another try :) but I'm going to attempt to blog again. Facebook just seems so much easier, but this is a little more permanent, and there are a few people who don't Facebook, so I'll try to blog at least some. Plus, several giveaways give extra entries for promoting their giveaway in various ways on your blog. So I'll try again. Here's an update on life in the Wilson house. We are in the process of adopting 15 year old Ashley Wester. She's had a really tough life before she came to live with us in November, and she's adjusting to life with us. We're also expecting yet another family member at the end of this year. I'll find out next week if the new baby is a boy or girl, so I'm sure I'll post some ultrasound pics.

Week 37

Week 37

Let the Countdown begin...

So we are officially "full term" now at 37 weeks with only 3 weeks left to go. I haven't made any progress since last week (still only 1/2 cm dilated and 0% effaced), so even though I'm measuring at 39 1/2 weeks, we are still on target for the July 20th due date (Sorry Mom!) for now. The bad news is that my blood pressure continues to sky-rocket while I'm up and moving around. It was 163/104 when I got there today. The good news is that it also goes back to near perfect when I am resting (132/80), so no early induction or emergency c-section in the near future :) I do, however have to go in for a non-stress test on Wednesday just to make sure everything is ok. No bedrest or anything for now just a prescription of "take it easy, drink more water, eat less salt, and keep your feet up." I know it's been forever and Jason did take a picture of me yesterday, but I'll have to put it up later since I'm not sure where the camera went.

2 Baby Showers

Ok, I have been so busy that I have not posted anything about the 2 other baby showers I had- one with my dad's family (and Kari) in Oklahoma City on the 6th and one at our church here in Frederick on the 13th. First of all, let me say that I am so grateful for all the wonderful friends and family who have given Jason and I gifts, at the showers and in the mail or just handed to us from people that couldn't make it to a shower. We are so blessed! In addition to the hand-me-downs we have received (thank you so much Amanda and Jennifer), we got so much at the showers themselves! I haven't even had time to go through all the hand-me-downs yet, but I think the only big thing we're missing is the monitor (which we have ordered but it hasn't shipped yet) and the high chair (which we got a gift card for but were waiting to buy until we knew whether or not someone else was going to give us one. So we are pretty much set. We have (just listing the major stuff) all the nursery furniture (crib, changing table, chest of drawers, and armoir), swing, 2 different styles of bouncy chairs, an infant bather, stroller/car seat travel set, a breast pump, one of those backwards-backpack style carriers, lots of clothes, toys, diapers, and wipes. I still want a sling-style carrier, but we have multiple gift cards, and I think that my sister-in-law might even have one that she just didn't know I wanted so it wasn't included in the other hand-me-downs. You guys are all so awesome. I feel much more baby ready now than I did a month ago! Now if we could just get the baby furniture put together and the a/c fixed...

Follow up appointment

Well, I went back to the doctor today and my blood pressure was high when I got there (140/100) but after laying down for a few minutes was nearly textbook perfect (121/80). The doctor had gone to deliver a baby, but the nurse told me this was most likely that moving around is raising my blood pressure, so I need to do as little as possible. I am to lay down or sit with my feet out (not in a chair) as much as possible and not stay in the living room until the A/C is fixed since being hot can raise your blood pressure, too. For now I am still allowed to work (thank God because I don't know what we would do otherwise) but light duty only (which is not really a change except that it's official now), cook, and do laundry. I'll try to post a picture soon because I know it's been forever.

Long time, no post

Well, as Corey pointed out at the family reunion Sunday, I have not posted in a long time. Life has been so hectic. Our air conditioner is broken for the second time this month right now, and every spare minute that is spent eating, sleeping, or working is spent at doctor appointments, painting Emma's room (It's finally done! Yay!), going to baby showers (thank you everyone), writing thank you notes for said baby showers :) or soaking my poor swollen feet in epsom salt. I'm trying to work as much as possible right now because Jason is planning on going to a training in OKC next week, and I am trying to work all my hours for the pay period this week and the couple of days after we get back so that I can take off the whole week to go with him. As long as the doctor doesn't forbid me to go, that is. My feet are so swollen that I have taken over Jason's Crocs, and my blood pressure was slightly elevated at my appointment Monday (I think it's because I was upset about my feet swelling- it was better when I took it at Walmart), so I have to go back again tomorrow. If anything changes, I'll be sure to post it.

New wonders

Just in the last few days I have been able to see Emma move. This is the coolest experience. I found myself just sitting and staring at my belly yesterday, waiting for her to move. If I didn't have 4 billion things to do all the time, I think I could just do that all day. Not really much to this short little post, but I wanted to share just how amazing this is.

32 Weeks

For my 32 week picture, I had my mom be the photographer since I knew yesterday would be kinda crazy. I'll put up pics (and stories) about the baby shower at Mom's tomorrow when I have more time!

Big feet

Emma's feet are already about 6cm long, which is big for her age. Thanks Daddy!

It's a girl

Just to the right of the cursor you can see what Dr. Jones refers to as her "girl parts" :)

New ultrasound pics- Emma's profile

Here's baby Emma's newest profile picture. Jason and I think the last pictures were actually a little easier to see, but we wanted to post what we got anyway. However, I cannot figure out how to add multiple pictures in one post and still format it the way I want, so it will be one post per picture.