Bumpdate: 37 1/2 weeks, Nursery is FINALLY done!

At 37 weeks I am not feeling tired of being pregnant, but I am feeling tired of going to the doctor every single week. Today at my appointment I measured normally, even though last week a different doctor said I measured small and because of that I have an ultrasound tomorrow morning to make sure my amniotic fluid is normal and check the baby's growth. The ultrasound is kind of fun when I think about getting a peek at the little man, but I am mostly nervous they are going to find some excuse to induce me at the ultrasound, which I really, really, really don't want. If he measures too small or too large, they are going to want to induce, because of the gestational diabetes - blah blah blah. So we are praying for a Goldilocks ultrasound - that the baby will measure just right.

Speaking of labor talk, that's all that's on my mind now that I am officially "term". I am having Braxton Hicks that are definitely stronger and longer, especially at night or when I am active, and are sometimes accompanied by that menstrual-crampy feeling (which is what my contractions felt like when I labored with BB). I have a friend from work who offered to be my doula, and we met this week and talked all about pain management techniques and my birth plan - I am very excited to have a doula this time around! I really want my labor to start naturally, when the baby's ready - I believe that my body knows what it is doing. And I am so tired of hearing "Even though you're diet-controlled and your blood sugars are well-controlled, blah blah blah gestational diabetes blah blah blah." The doctor I saw today was very supportive of that and recommended walking and some *cough* other activities to get things moving. That's right, it's that time already. I can't believe that we could potentially meet our baby boy any day now. Since this weekend, both J and I feel emotionally prepared, and we have the carseat the in car and my hospital bag packed, and as of this evening, I finally finished my final nursery project -recovering BB's old crib bumper. That project was a bit overly ambitious of me and I am "sew" glad to be done with it (especially since we won't even be using it in the beginning due to the increased risk of SIDS with crib bumper use - I just wanted it to look pretty and add some pizazz to the crib). I told J that if we have a daughter, she's not getting a crib bumper - they're too much work, and it probably would have been easier to make one from scratch rather than recover BB's old one. Of course, I made that declaration mid-project when my sewing machine kept malfunctioning on the last couple of steps and I may or may not have been mildly swearing at both the machine and the minky dot fabric (which was a nightmare to use - my machine and minky dot apparently hate each other). Anyway, now the nursery is DONE!

Which means (in my mind) that baby can come anytime he's ready. I won't mind a few more days of quality time with BB though, since I've mostly been focused on my to-do list since I've been off work. Other exciting things that have gotten "done" in the last couple of days are an unexpected replacement of our refrigerator (which is really a saga in and of itself), a new cell phone for J that actually transmits my phone calls to him which the old one wasn't doing and well, at 9 months pregnant that just won't do, and a new laptop battery because the laptop is just a very skinny desktop computer right now (we have bad luck with laptop batteries). Oh, and J cleaned up the tool-strewn obstacle course that was our garage today. And in the last few weeks I have compulsively washed every piece of fabric that isn't nailed down in our home, and got the carpet and couch cleaned.

BB just chats away about everything, including his baby brother, and pulls up my shirt and rubs my belly when we ask where his baby brother is. He loves to play in the baby's room. He has become very affectionate this past month, and runs up and hugs our legs all the time and is generous with hugs and kisses. He requests "Mama hold BB? Daddy hold BB?" He's also expressing his likes and dislikes - a few weeks ago I made omelets and he announced "BB likes these eggs." It was an impressive, complete sentence, and I was so happy that the first food he announced he liked was something I made for him, and since then he has continued to tell us more about what he's thinking and feeling. BB's in the third week of his ISR refresher course right now, so he's swimming every morning at 9 am. It's been good but it has put a cramp in our morning and I am definitely ready for it to be over and to enjoy a more leisurely morning - thankfully our last lesson is Friday.
Here's BB being a total ham (mid-meal) earlier this week:

If you're thinking his hair looks a little long, don't worry, I gave it a trim tonight.

Okay, time for the great nursery reveal!




(Yesterday I ordered photos to fill the empty frames)




J built the airplane shelf!


I made the "A" out of a cardboard box and a piece of scrapbook paper!


The crib with the crib skirt and bumper that I recovered


Trying to show a better shot of the crib bumper


Aaaand a shot of the closet with all of the little clothes, just for fun.

We already had all of the furniture we put in the nursery, so all we bought was paint, fabric, and a few accessories and new linens. J's mom and sisters bought our baby boy the wooden airplane suspended from the ceiling at an antique fair, and I got the map off of amazon for about $2 (I actually bought several because I used the maps as decoration for Han's world-traveler-themed baby shower, and that's what I used the map bunting for that I hung over the window). And we are so glad that we could keep the pull-out couch in the nursery so we still have guest quarters.

So this is going to be a bump-less bumpdate post, but I wanted to get up the nursery photos. Only a couple more Bumpdates to go!

Bumpdate: 36 weeks

36 weeks. As in, almost term. As in, my friend due just two weeks before me had her baby very early this morning, at 12:01 am on the 4th of July (We can't wait to meet you, little firecracker!)

Which means that these will be our last belly photos together, taken at her world-traveler themed baby shower at the end of May:

There's Baby E's momma on the right - they welcomed Baby Boy Z days after this photo was taken. And next is Han, who's baby was born first thing today! See who's next in line?
Just to recap, the two on the right: babies born.
Next in line: Me.

I have to admit, I'm starting to freak out a little.

Which means I spend a lot of time trying to get J freaked out, so that I can feel like the calm, rational one.

My last day of work was this past Saturday - I am now off for "Summer Leave" until out little man makes his appearance, and then my maternity leave starts. No more 12-hour shifts while giant pregnant - I am so thankful. Pregnancy-wise, I am still having the same sleeping troubles, achey legs and tossing and turning. I can tell that the Little Mister's days and nights are going to be confused when he comes out - he is SO BUSY all night long. But I love feeling and watching him move in my belly - it's so fascinating having someone along for my ride all the time. And as challenging as anything physical is right now, I am reminding myself that it's so much easier to care for him now while he's inside my belly, so enjoy the (relative) freedom. At my last appointment the doctor remarked, Wow, his head is really low, isn't it? Which explains the periods of intense pressure I definitely feel at times, especially when he gets really active. And I am still having lots of Braxton Hicks, especially when I bend forward to do something. She actually checked me at my last appointment (since she was doing some other investigating) and she said that my cervix is still very far back (it will come forward with more contractions).

I am so curious about what he will look like, and in what ways he and BB will be similar and different. BB talks about him all the time - his room, my belly, his car seat, his bouncy seat. He seems happy to relinquish all of his equipment to his baby brother (especially when we point out that he's a big boy with a big boy carseat and a big boy bed, etc.). I have been taking fish oil for a while now, recommended by my doctor to ward off any post-partum depression, and I have been feeling very emotionally stable since I started taking it, praise God.

The Gestational Diabetes update is that my weight plateued for a couple of weeks, and then I actually lost weight, but I am still measuring normally so they weren't concerned (although one doc did start to give me the anorexic pregnant girl tone of voice telling me "Weeeellll, we do want you to gain about 30 pounds...." and I quickly told her "Look, I had no problem gaining weight with my first pregnancy. I'm pretty sure it's the 1800 calorie limited carbohydrate diet you put me on for the Gestational Diabetes." Maybe I said it a little nicer. But not too much. Come on.) The next week, after reviewing my blood sugars and discussing the weight issue (I had gained no weight again that week) the doc said that I can eat more calories, and I gained 2 pounds the past week. Because yes, since 30 weeks I have seen the doctor every single week. I am so tired of it! I am not sick, my blood sugars actually tend to run low, I am completely "diet-controlled" - I am a healthy pregnant person! The upside is that because I am diet-controlled and they have now agreed that I am borderline Gestational Diabetic, I have not had to do any additional monitoring, which would mean even more appointments every week.

In an effort to "exercise" J and I have started taking family walks after dinner a few nights a week, and BB loves it. As soon as you mention a walk, he races to the garage door and waits. We also let him play at the parks in our neighborhood sometimes, since it's too hot to go any other time of day. We have been working on the nursery, and, after just last night mounting a shelf that J built, I just have a few finishing touches to go, projects I plan to work on in these last few weeks. I absolutely love his nursery, we all do, and have been spending time in there quite a bit. It will be hard to decide how to combine their rooms when they are a little older and it's time to share a room.

And now for the bump - a friend from college is starting up a photography business, and asked if we would be willing to do a maternity photoshoot to help build her portfolio - oh, and she would do it for FREE! Of course we said yes, and I am so, so happy with how the photos turned out. I can't wait to print and frame these - in our entry, our nursery, and a gallery wall I am hoping to do in the stairwell (a project I have wanted to do for years). These were taken just last Wednesday, when I was 35 weeks and 2 days pregnant.

Aaaaand our favoritest photo of the entire shoot:

Bumpdate: 31 weeks+

Friday night we were finally, finally prepping to paint the nursery (and I of course wanted a commemorative belly shot with the paint and other room inspiration). J was all ready to paint on Saturday while I worked and BB went off to Nacky's house.....and then poor BB was up all night with a fever, and while I went to take care of sick people at work, J took care of sick BB at home. (I hated that.)

The nursery mid-prep - yes, those are stripes, just like on the inspiration-bookcover!

So today Mama is back on duty, and J is donning his coveralls and wielding roller brushes - IF IT KILLS US. Seriously, I'm 32 weeks tomorrow. It's TIME to get the nursery together. We painted BB's nursery at 30 weeks and I felt like that was WAY too late to finally be getting the nursery together and vowed that we would never do that again. (Awkward pause.....) Especially because this time around we have a lot to do in BB's room too, adding a big boy bed (aka a mattress on the floor with a faux headboard to make me feel less like he's sleeping on a matress on the floor) and adjusting his clothing and toy storage (since his dresser is part of the changing table). But here we are. The good news is that other than paint and new baby linens and a few accessories (just for fun), we aren't really buying anything for the nursery, so it is an economically-friendly redo. And while I say that we haven't done anything, that's not true, because we have cleared the room out, which means that we have found new storage for a lot of stuff. My favorite is the dresser we redid - other than the hardware (for which I need to do some serious googling), it has been complete and fully functional for a couple of weeks now.

I can't wait to accesorize the top (ignore the stuff piled up there right now) - I already have a few books and a picture and an idea for a painting I want to do in mind. And yes, the drawers are the same color that the office is painted. I love that color and was a little sad we are painting over it, so now it lives on in the hallway. Plus, it was free (leftover) paint!

Other good news is that so far I love all of the changes - I love the dresser in the hall, I love the desk in our bedroom, I love how convenient the storage in the linen closet is. Our home feels cozier with those empty spaces filled in.

And now for the pregnancy update - not so good news is that Friday they called to tell me that my 3-hour glucose tolerance test came back abnormal, which I guess means I have gestational diabetes. Two of my three blood draws were elevated, but both were elevated only 2 measly points above the cutoff. And I did the 3-hour test the day before BB's birthday party, so I had some added stress, which makes your blood glucose go up, and I think that is part of the reason. 2 measly points seem so ridiculous to worry about. But the logical side of me recognizes that if I had come in 2 measly points under the cutoff instead of over, I would still have been at the very high end of normal, which isn't ideal. I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow so I know we'll be discussing it there, but in the meantime BFF Dr. A assures me that because my numbers are so low I will just be diet-controlled (rather than adding a medication). I am going to have to go in for some kind of Gestational Diabetes education appointment - I was like, I'm a Cardiac ICU nurse, I think I know the drill (I'm bratty when I'm grumpy). But actually now I have some questions - like am I supposed to eat NO sugar, or just limited sugar? Day One of Gestational Diabetes was yesterday when I successfully did not eat any dessert all day - or night. I think I will be totally fine during the day, it's just those late night after dinner treats that are going to stretch my willpower to the max - I LOVE dessert - specifically, chocolate. I must have it. And I have CRAVED sweets this pregnancy, which I totally didn't when I was pregnant with BB. Ironic. So this is where you send me all of your best sugar-free-but-you'd-never-know-it-splendarific dessert recipes so that I survive the next 8 weeks. More serious googling ahead.

Otherwise, our littlest is very active, more active than I remember BB being, and I feel like he's bigger than BB was too. I am still having leg cramps and good and bad nights sleeping. I am having contractions pretty frequently the last few weeks, and they are getting harder to just walk through (even though they're not painful yet, just tight). I am SO looking forward to being off in July - Have I told you all that I am going to be off in July? It doesn't affect my maternity leave, I will still have 12 weeks off with Baby Boy, and this way I will have a whole month to nest and just spend quality time with BB. I am hoping to dedicate a few days to potty training, but otherwise I just want to spend some special time with him. And do a few fun projects for the nursery while BB naps.

Okay, I hear a little man stirring...hopefully I will be posting a picture of the painted nursery soon!