Life Lately

I haven't posted in awhile. I thought I'd do a quick update since I have a few free moments.

Jon got a new job a couple months ago. Due to a pay cut and reduced hours at the gym, he started looking for a new job this summer and found one doing tech support for Apple. He also is doing some personal training on the side at another gym. He works a lot, but when he's not working, he is working around the yard or playing with Evan.

I started school again a couple weeks ago. I'm in my pediatrics class and am loving it so far. Only about 7.5 months until graduation! When I'm not at school, I am loving every second with my boy. He is such a joy to be around all day and I am beyond blessed to be his mom!

Evan is 5 months old now! It's so hard to believe. He literally gets more cute and fun every single day, and it is so much fun watching him discover new things all the time. He's so happy most of the time and keeps us laughing. He is still as expressive as ever, and I have a feeling he will be laughing - like, real laughs, not just happy squeals - soon. He loves to smile at people, especially women, but I think we are going to be entering the stranger anxiety stage soon. He seems to be becoming a tiny bit more attached to me than usual lately.

Another big thing is that Ev is beginning to eat solid foods. I chose to skip the rice cereal stage and go right into giving him big chunks of soft foods. It's more just for fun right now than for actual nutrition, since he still nurses constantly and gets plenty to eat from that. He gets to touch and squish and squeeze the food which is great for developing his motor skills. And if some of the food makes it into his mouth, it's a bonus! He has had bananas and cooked carrots so far, and has enjoyed both.

Other things Evan is doing (for my own sake of documenting so that I remember in 10 years!):

-Sitting up on his own. Sometimes he tips over, but I'd say he's doing pretty well for only being on his first week of doing it!

-Transferring objects from one hand to another.

-Learning his name. He will look your direction now when you say his name.

-He loves animals. He watches our cat and dog intently, and notices animals when we are outside, at the zoo, etc.

-He growls, squeals, and babbles all the time.

-He's definitely teething, but no teeth poking through yet. He bites so hard and drools all over the place.

-His sleep habits are still so different every day. Lately, he hardly naps at all (maybe a couple half hour naps a day, if I'm lucky), but still doesn't sleep all night. Most nights he wakes up a few times to eat. I gave up on trying to get him to go back to sleep without nursing, because it was getting to the point where I would be up for one or two hours trying to get him to go back down, and then I'd end up nursing him anyway. Now, I just nurse him every time he wakes up and then he immediately goes back to sleep. Last night though, he slept for 9 hours straight! (He didn't nap though for 2 days in a row.)

-I'm still waiting for him to learn to roll from tummy to back. He's been rolling back to front for about 1.5 months now.

That's all for now!

Evan's Birth Story (Warning: extremely long!)

Here is Evan's birth story. It's incredibly long, because it's first and foremost a record for my own memory. If you don't like reading details about medical stuff/birth...don't read this. I basically just wrote whatever I was thinking and didn't necessarily edit out the gross details, haha. You've been warned!

Evan’s Birth Story

            I guess the story starts on Monday, April 9. I saw Wendy, my midwife, for my weekly checkup, and I finally agreed to let her check to see if I had dilated at all. I hadn’t wanted to know previously, because I didn’t think it made a difference whether or not I was dilated…I could have been and not gone into labor for another 2 weeks, or I could have not been dilated at all and gone into labor that night. So for me, it was better to not even know so that I wouldn’t be thinking and obsessing about when Evan would come. Anyway, she did check me, and I was dilated 2cm and effaced 50%. She said that was great…but not so great if I planned on making it another two weeks in order to finish my semester at school. She said I would probably have him any day. I figured she was just saying that, and I kept telling myself that I still had lots of time and that if I could just get done with clinicals, I’d at least be more ready for Evan to be born.

            The rest of the day after seeing Wendy, I had some bloody show and was losing my mucous plug. At first I thought I was just having some bleeding because of the internal exam. I started feeling kind of sick, and ended up getting about 3 hours of sleep that night. I had to get up at 5am for clinical, and felt pretty nauseous all Tuesday morning while at clinical. Looking back, I guess I kind of knew something was happening, but I didn’t want to admit it because I was so focused on finishing the semester. I kept saying there was no way he’d be early, and that I still had some time left.

            I went to bed Tuesday at 11pm, and at 12:30am on Wednesday, I was woken up by a sudden gush. Even though the sensation felt exactly like I had spontaneously lost all bladder control and wet the bed, I immediately knew that it was my water breaking. It was as if my brain knew what was happening before I was even fully awake. The second I was woken up by it, I said “Jon, my water just broke.” I didn’t even have time to think about it or consider what had just happened, I just blurted it out. I ran to the bathroom and had several more small gushes. I kept thinking that maybe I had just been really relaxed and peed the bed or something. I laid back down, and the gushes continued. It was impossible to sleep after that, especially since I started getting some mild cramps. I had never had any painful contractions at any point during my pregnancy, but I definitely knew one when I felt it. They weren’t bad, but they started shortly after my water broke, which confirmed for me that it had indeed been my water and not just an unfortunate lack of bladder control.

            Between the contractions and continued small gushes of fluid all night, it was impossible to sleep any more. I was so excited and kept thinking, “I might have the baby today!” I figured that hey, my water had broken, the baby would be here within a day, right? I called my clinical teacher and told her I wouldn’t be at school that day (Wednesday). I called Wendy and she said to just hang out and let her know my progress throughout the day. The “assistant midwife,” Kristin, came over that morning to check on me and listen to Evan’s heartbeat to make sure he was fine. My contractions were getting a bit stronger, but weren’t regular at all. They would get stronger and more frequent when I laid down and tried to rest, and then they’d start going away when I got up and moved around. It was frustrating, to say the least. I basically just sat around waiting all day for things to get going, but they never really did. My parents and Catie came over to hang out. Catie and my mom cleaned my car for me…that was such a nice treat! I laid down Wednesday night and tried once again to sleep, and had no luck. I would doze off for a minute or two, and then get woken up by a contraction. The contractions kept getting stronger but were only coming about every 10 minutes. They started coming every 3-5 minutes and I got really excited, and then they would stop all together. I decided around 2am on Thursday to go downstairs and bounce on my exercise ball to see if I could get the contractions to come more frequently. They were painful, but I was just breathing through them. I knew for sure that there was no way I was even in active labor yet. My body was starting to shut down from lack of sleep. By my calculation, I’d had about 5 hours of sleep in the last 3 days,  and I was definitely feeling it. My body was shaking and convulsing, I didn’t have the strength to sit up anymore, and I was so nauseous. I called Wendy and told her that I didn’t know what to do. I wanted to sleep, but the contractions were preventing that. I wanted things to progress, but I figured I still had so much laboring ahead of me, that there was absolutely no way my body would have the strength to handle any more. I was afraid that sleeping would stop labor altogether, but at that point, I was willing to have things stall if it meant I could get a little bit of rest.

Luckily, I got maybe 1-2 hours of sleep when I had a few half hour breaks in between contractions. I would have gotten more, but I was having anxiety attacks for some reason, and all I could think about was how it felt like my heart was racing. The little bit of sleep was enough to lift my spirits and give me the energy I needed. I stopped shaking and feeling sick, and I went upstairs to lay in bed again. The contractions were becoming stronger and stronger, and I was starting to have a harder time with them. I had practiced so many relaxation techniques during my pregnancy, yet I still had a really hard time not tensing up and focusing all my energy on resisting the pain. I kept telling myself, “Pain equals baby!” I imagined every contraction bringing me closer to meeting Evan, but even that didn’t help too much. I finally woke Jon up (yeah, he was just sleeping away through pretty much all of this…) and told him I was going to get up and eat and ask for Wendy or Kristin (she’s a midwife-in-training and will become a midwife in a couple months. Right now she’s a certified Doula and was going to be assisting Wendy with Evan’s birth.) to come over and bring the tub.

Kristin came over at about 9am on Thursday and checked me. I had told Jon that if Kristin told me I was only dilated to 3-4cm, I was going to the hospital. I’m not sure how serious I was, but I knew that I didn’t have much left in me to keep going if I still had hours and hours of labor ahead of me. I knew though, that without regular, frequent contractions, I probably hadn’t made much progress at all. Much to my surprise, Kristin announced that I was 7cm dilated! What?! I was shocked and so excited. I had made so much progress on my own and was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. Until that point, I still had a hard time convincing myself that I would eventually get to meet my baby. It still felt like a far-off fantasy that wasn’t really going to happen any time soon. It’s funny how much power your mind has sometimes.

My mom and Catie showed up a little after Kristin got there. They were amazing and started to help get things ready. They helped Jon blow up the tub and clean and, honestly, some other stuff that I don’t remember because I was in the living room with Kristin just focusing on getting through the contractions. Kristin was truly amazing. She was what saved me from giving up when the contractions were getting painful. She noticed right away that I was tensing up during contractions and talked me through each one by telling me to relax my muscles and breathe. She just kept saying “let everything go.” It was all stuff that I knew in my head, but I needed the encouragement and reminder from someone else. Once the tub was blown up and filled with water, I was feeling pretty ready to get in. We had a bit of a hiccup when Jon forgot to inflate the bottom of the tub. It was on the hardwood floor in Evan’s room, so I was pretty uncomfortable until we decided to just put a pillow in there for me to sit on. It felt so great to be able to just float and melt into each contraction. I was feeling really great in between contractions, and was talking and joking a lot with Wendy and Kristin. They both came in and just hung out in the room with me. The contractions still weren’t very close together, but boy, they hurt! I just continued to breathe and focus on fully relaxing through each one, and it didn’t take the pain away, but it made the pain totally manageable. I can honestly say that at no point during the contractions did I ever wish I had an epidural. I guess I expected the contractions to be much more horrible. They were bad, but not as bad as I was expecting.

I started losing track of time and basically just laid in the tub motionless for long periods as the contractions got a little closer together. I kept trying to think of happy things to get me through each one, and the image that kept coming to my mind was being on the beach in Mexico on our honeymoon. With each contraction, I would tell myself, “Liz, go to the beach.” Haha. It really did help! Again, the pain was still there, but I could get through it by letting everything go. I also requested that everyone be quite during my contractions, because any noise, and most physical contact even, was really distracting. I am proud to say though, that I never snapped or swore at anyone during any part of the birth, haha. I thought I’d be saying all kinds of mean things. I was mostly just really quiet and focused during the last really intense part of labor.

I wondered if I would know when to push. I knew, from reading, what sensation to watch out for, but I was afraid I’d never feel it. My contractions still weren’t very close together, and Wendy asked if I’d want to labor on the bed for a bit, so that she could check my progress. I kept telling her that I didn’t think I could handle laboring out of the water. I felt comfortable dealing with everything in the water, but was scared of the unknown of how much harder it might be out of the water. Just in time, I started to feel “pushy” during the contractions. My body was starting to involuntarily bear down, and the first couple times I fought it, because I wasn’t sure if it was ok to push. I hate how we are so conditioned by the medical world to do everything by the book. In the hospital, your dilation is checked regularly and you’re instructed by someone else on when to start pushing. Are our bodies not capable of letting us know what to do, and when? I mentioned to Kristin and Wendy that I was feeling like I might have to push, and they said to go ahead and see if I could feel Evan’s head. I was afraid because I didn’t want to reach in and feel nothing and then become discouraged. I felt his head, though! Kristin then checked me and said that I was pretty much fully dilated, and that if I pushed during the next contraction, she could help move the little bit of cervix that was in the way, out of the way.

I started undirected pushing at 12:30 pm on Thursday. I was so grateful that no one told me the time. I had no idea what time it was, and I didn’t want to know. I figured it was probably sometime around 3, though. I did some pushing and tried to get the feel for things on my own, and then after a few contractions, Kristin asked me if I wanted them to help guide me. I can’t even describe how wonderful it was to not have someone sitting there telling me when to push, counting to 10, and telling me to hold my breath…etc, etc. They simply encouraged me to keep going, to give it a little more, to take breaths and push one more time with each contraction. It was really hard and I quickly got discouraged when I felt like I was making no progress. It felt like a long time had gone by, and it just didn’t feel like Evan was any closer to being born. I tried a few different positions in the tub, but his head was having a hard time making it past my pelvis.

 I should mention that the entire time I was pushing, Wendy and Kristin were monitoring Evan’s heartbeat and it was perfect every time. He tolerated labor like a champ! It’s amazing to me how much people (mostly medical professionals that I told I was having a home birth) obsessed over the fact that I wasn’t going to have continuous heart rate monitoring for the baby. I am not blind to the fact that sometimes, it is totally necessary and is responsible for saving the lives of babies. But, on the other hand, it is so necessary in the hospital because almost every woman is given so many drugs that can mess with the baby’s heart rate. Babies are designed to tolerate labor! When they are left alone (meaning, no drugs in their systems), they can do fine even when being squeezed through a birth canal! Anyway, I’m stepping off my soap box for now.

The longer I pushed in the tub, the more discouraged I got. At one point I asked, “Am I going to have to go to the hospital? Is this going to work? Are you sure he’s going to come out?” I still didn’t know the time, but I had a vague idea that I’d been pushing for a pretty long time. The problem was that my contractions never got very close together. They were spaced out and my body was so tired from no sleep. I was having a hard time holding myself up in the tub so Jon had to help hold me up. Wendy told me that I might have more luck if I got out of the tub, so I considered it for a few minutes (again, I was scared of the increased pain that being out of the water might bring), and she gently reminded me that it was going to take more pain in order to get Evan here. It took several more contractions to actually get out of the tub, because every time I stood up, I would get a contraction and have to squat down and push. I did make it to the bed finally, and did a lot of pushing there. I made some progress, but was so beyond exhausted, that I kept feeling so discouraged that all my hard work didn’t feel like it was paying off.  My whole lower body would cramp up so badly with each push that I couldn’t push through the entire contraction, which made things take even longer. Finally, I decided I wanted to stand up because I thought using gravity would help me conserve some energy. That worked for awhile, until my legs kept giving out. They were shaking so badly that I literally couldn’t stand anymore and Jon held me up. I sure am glad I married such a strong guy! J

After what seemed like an eternity, I could see the top of Evan’s head in the mirror            ! I couldn’t believe it.  He had SO much dark hair. That gave me the motivation to keep pushing harder, but I was shaking from head to toe from exhaustion. I don’t want to go into too much detail, but let’s just say the “ring of fire” is even worse than I’ve heard it is. I don’t think I really complained about the pain at all until this point. Wendy said that Evan had so much hair and that’s what made things even harder. All his hair was preventing him from just popping out…haha. I was screaming at this point, mostly cause I felt like that helped me to push more intensely. The next thing I knew, his head was out! A few more pushes, and his body was out too, and they handed him right up to me. I thought I’d sob the first time I met my baby, but all I could say was “Oh my gosh…” over and over. They helped me lay on the bed, with Evan on my chest. We got to lay there for about an hour while I delivered the placenta and Wendy stitched me up. Amazingly enough, after THREE hours of pushing, I had such a minor tear that Wendy said I didn’t even need stitches, but that she could give me a couple to help make things a little more comfortable.

Evan was super alert right after he was born. He cried a little bit when they rubbed his back to stimulate him, but other than that, he just looked around the whole time. I loved that. We let the cord stop pulsing before Jon cut it. I’m surprised he cut it, because he was a little woozy through much of my labor. I had expected to give birth and then just want to go to sleep, but I got a surge of adrenalin and felt really energized. Once I was stitched and good to go, I was really eager to see how much Evan weighed. He was 8 pounds even, 21 ½ inches long, and had a 14 ½ inch head…that explained why he was so hard to get out! It’s amazing, though, that as soon as he was out and laying on my chest, none of the pain, exhaustion, or hard work mattered anymore. Once Evan was weighed, we both took a nice relaxing herbal bath and I tried nursing him for the first time. The whole nursing thing is another story in itself, that I won’t even begin to talk about right now.

It’s already hard to remember a lot of the details of his birth as I’m typing this now, 6 days later. All I know is the incredible love I feel for this little boy. I get teary eyed every time I think about how much I love him and how lucky I am to be a mom…HIS mom. He is perfect in every way, and I am constantly thanking God that I was given this gift of motherhood. I think about how long I prayed for a baby and how much Jon and I went through to get to this point. It still feels so weird to not constantly be thinking, "Man, I really just want a baby already!!" I don't have to wish for that anymore, because my baby is finally HERE!

38.5 Weeks!

Whew...I've been a little busy. Combine that with the fact that we don't technically have internet (we sometimes pick up the neighbor's wifi...), and you get - no blog posts! I can't remember where I left off in my last post, so I will just try to remember things that have happened in the last few weeks.

The number one question everyone asks me is, "How do you feel...are you SO ready to be done?" Up until today, I've felt pretty well still and have had no desire for this pregnancy to end quite yet. I really wanted to be able to finish the semester before the little guy comes. Yesterday, I had an appointment with Wendy and I finally agreed to let her check me. I hadn't wanted her to check me at previous appointments because I didn't want to know whether or not I was dilated, cause to me, it made no difference. You can be dilated for weeks before giving birth, or you can be not dilated at all, and give birth that day. I didn't want to find out I was dilated and then be stressing every day about whether I would pop a baby out at any moment. Well, she checked and I'm 2cm dilated and about 50% effaced. She said, "That's great! But not so great if you're hoping to make it another two weeks!" So basically, she said I could "go any time now." I know there is truly no way of knowing, but I'm starting to think that she may be right. Not to get too graphic, but things are starting to get going, I think. I'm pretty sure I've been losing my mucus plug and having bloody show since yesterday. And that's all I will say about that! I didn't really sleep at all last night and was having a lot of pain and pressure "down there." This morning was the first morning that I've woken up and really felt like crap. It got better during the day, but I was very nauseous in the morning.

Other than the last day or so, things were going really well and I was still feeling as close to great as I can at this point. Not much more weight gain (I'm at a total of about 18 pounds right now), no swelling, no stretch marks that I can see, and no heartburn, really. I do take Tums once in awhile before bed just in case. I've been having a lot of painless Braxton Hicks, although I have some mystery pain in my pelvis when the baby moves a lot. I don't think those are contractions, though. I had one episode of pain and cramping in my side and left half of my lower stomach, and I thought it might be the start of labor, but I went to bed and was fine in the morning. Speaking of bed, I'm not sleeping very much at all anymore, but I still manage to make it through most days without a nap! I'm not working anymore, so I've been able to sleep in some mornings, which is so great (even though it's still only till about 8am).

I've officially been "nesting" like crazy (I hate that word) and was being so productive with doing laundry, cleaning, organizing, etc. Jon thinks it's so funny. He said to me one morning, "Wow, you actually woke up and started cleaning...you really ARE nesting!" I'm feeling like I have a lot less energy these last few days though, which I hope changes cause I still have a lot to do. We do have mostly everything ready for when Evan gets here, but I'd at least like to have all his stuff put away and the house sort of clean when he's born.

Evan is kicking away, as always. It really hurts a lot now when he moves. There's just no room for him! I can't wait to meet him and kiss his little toes that have been jabbing me for all these months :) I think he possibly may have dropped a tiny bit, even though Wendy said he's not locked and loaded yet, but my ribs hurt a little less and I can breathe a little bit better.

It's really starting to hit me that we are inevitably going to have a baby soon...really soon! It's not months, or even weeks away anymore. It could happen at any time, and it's so crazy to think about. I'm excited and a bit nervous, but mostly just feeling really excited and determined. I'm not looking forward to the pain, but I just keep reminding myself that pain = baby, and that it's only temporary pain. After watching so many women give birth in the hospital, while on drugs, and strapped down to a bed, I feel so great about my decision to stay home and be able to move around freely while I labor. I think that will make a huge difference in how my labor progresses.

Oh, and one last thing (I think)...Maci TOTALLY knows that she's not going to be the baby for much longer. She's been extra snuggly and sweet. I love it! I feel bad for her though, that she has such a big adjustment coming her way. I want to make sure to make her feel loved and included, even after Evan is born. I was telling her today that she and Ev are going to grow up together and be best friends. I'm so excited for our little guy to have a pup that he gets to spend his childhood playing with. And yes, we still have Tucker...but I don't even want to go there. He drives me insane and I seriously consider letting him go almost daily.

36 Weeks!

I have been so busy that I forgot to do my bi-weekly post which would have been at week 35. It's so surreal that in just a few weeks, we will meet our little dude. Up until this point, the "end" still seemed so far away, and I didn't really think about it that much. I just kept thinking that we had so much time left and that there was still a lot to do but that it didn't matter because Evan's arrival was still months away. Now that it's this close, I'm so extremely excited to meet him, but I'm almost wishing that time would slow down just a little because I don't feel ready for him to get here. I feel ready physically and mentally and emotionally, but we haven't set up anything in his room, or finished unpacking from our move to our house, and I haven't had any baby showers yet! Once everything is mostly done though, I will feel better. I'm not the kind of person who has to have everything planned and organized and all that, but with this, it's hard not to be a little stressed that literally nothing is done yet.

Speaking of setting up E's room, that has been quite the project! It's taken us so long to re-finish the stupid floor that a previous owner painted all over. It's finally done though, and I asked Jon if he would please set up the crib tomorrow because I am so dang excited to start getting the nursery set up. This weekend and next weekend I have two baby showers, and I am really looking forward to those.

So what's happening with me and the babe? Well, he is getting bigger and bigger, and so am I. He can still kick/punch pretty hard, but mostly he just rolls around and shoves his feet into my ribs. It actually hurts a lot. I'm wondering if he's going to be really long, because I have a long torso and he still seems to have no room. I am ready for him to drop because it's really hard to breathe now. Although, I know that when he "drops," there will be a whole other set of discomforts to deal with. So far I've gained 14.5 pounds (this morning I'm 146.5) and I am starting to see some really faint stretch marks. They're pretty hard to see unless you look closely for them, so as long as they stay light, I'm ok. I expected my feet to look like sausages by this point, but I've been lucky to have no swelling or varicose veins. I feel so huge and have noticed that it's much harder to get out of bed or out of the recliner than it used to be. I figure I only have about a month left, and we're having to be super strict with our budget, so I am trying to make due with the non-maternity clothes that still fit me. It's getting harder to find comfy shirts that fit and are acceptable to wear in public, but luckily doing the rubber band trick with my regular pants is working out beautifully. I get a lot of aches and pains "down there" now that are pretty uncomfortable and annoying, but nothing that is unusual for this point in a pregnancy. I am tired a lot, but I hardly even notice sometimes cause I'm so used to it. I don't sleep well, but again, I'm so used to that. I had a rough week last week, because we spent all weekend moving, and then I jumped right into a busy week, so my mind and body were beyond exhausted. I couldn't believe how much my back hurt! I'm doing much better now, though. I feel like overall, I'm very lucky to be feeling as well as I do. Yeah, I complain when I get contractions, because it feels like my ribs are breaking, and that makes me want this baby to get out! But other than that, I'm glad I feel pretty well.

Wendy is coming to our house on Monday night for my "home visit." This is when she will see where everything will be set up for the birth. I'm excited to see how big she thinks Evan feels. I'm guessing he will be a big boy. Or at least long. It's crazy because I'm in my OB class right now, and I see babies at the hospital every day. It's helping me to picture what the baby in my belly looks like. I sometimes forget that he isn't just some little alien-looking creature. I also have forgotten how tiny newborns are! You don't realize how small they are when you're not around them a lot. I know that they grow out of the newborn phase really quickly, so when E is born, I want to make sure to soak up every minute of when he's tiny.

33 Weeks!

A co-worker just came into my office and asked how I was feeling. She asked if I'm at that point yet where I am feeling so sick of pregnancy. I remember reading lots of pregnancy blogs where around the 34 week mark, the mom says something like "I'm so uncomfortable. I just want this baby to be out already!" Luckily, I am not at that point. There are nights where I feel really large and it's hard to get comfortable. But normally, I still feel fine and am glad that Evan isn't here yet, because he's still got some growing to do and he's much safer in my tummy right now! I STILL can't complain about pregnancy at this point, because I think I really do have it very easy. My back is tired and sore most of the time, but other than that, I think I am very lucky as far as pregnancy symptoms go. No leg cramps, heartburn, constipation, swelling, varicose veins, stretch marks, or anything like that so far. I did have some nausea for a few days, but I've accepted that as part of a normal pregnancy, since my body is still producing some crazy hormones. My weight gain thus far is 12 pounds. I still have no idea how this is possible, since I love sweets and certainly don't deprive myself of them! The one symptom that I've noticed is that I am SO thirsty most of the time. No matter how much I drink (I aim for 3-4L per day), I am still parched by the end of the day. I used to try to stop drinking water around 7pm so that I had a chance of getting some sleep, but lately, I've been drinking water as much as I want at night, and even though I have to get up to pee a little more, it hardly even bothers me anymore because I can fall right back to sleep. I think my sweet dog Maci is actually making it harder for me to sleep than the frequent peeing is. She loves to sleep between Jon and me, and usually sleeps the whole night curled up by my stomach or in back of my knees when I'm on my side. She's my baby though, so I just let her sleep wherever, since she won't be the only baby for much longer. We try to give her lots of attention now because even though we both say we will work hard to give her attention after Evan comes, it may not be as much as she's used to. She truly is very spoiled right now, so a new baby is going to be a hard adjustment for her I think. Speaking of spoiled, we went to DQ last night, and got Maci her own vanilla ice cream...haha yes, we are those people who get their dog ice cream.

Evan is doing well. He's still kicking up a storm all the time, and getting lots of hiccups. I listen to his heartbeat a lot with my stethoscope. He's still head down, and seems to have one leg tucked in and one leg stretched out that likes to kick me in the side when I lay down. I went to my midwife yesterday, and she said he feels long and big. I definitely take everything she says with a grain of salt though, because everything she says about him kind of changes with each appointment. There is no way to know how big he will be until he's born. Either way, I'm not worried. He will be the size he's going to be, and that's that!

I've felt really confident and excited about labor during this whole pregnancy. Lately, I've started getting a little worried. I think that's normal though, to have anxiety once it gets this close to the end. I just am going to try to read and be as prepared as possible, even though nothing can truly prepare you for birth. I know that I can do this and I just need to keep reminding myself of that. I think part of the problem is the fact that women in our society love to tell other pregnant women how hard and painful birth is. That's practically the only thing I ever hear about birth! If women were constantly talking about how wonderful and amazing birth was, instead of the pain and the horror stories, I think a lot more women would go into it thinking positive things about birth and not fearing the pain so much. I just need to keep reminding myself that I don't have to be controlled by the pain and the fear of pain.

Baby Room Sign DYI

I had found a sign with a saying on Pinterest that I loved...but to buy a custom-made sign like that was going to be at least $100. I decided I wanted to figure out a way to make one. After looking at stencil options at the craft stores, I was pretty discouraged because I had a very specific image in my mind of how I wanted the sign to look, and I wasn't finding any stencil/font options that I liked. I bought a canvas anyway, and went home to research some other ideas. I found a blog on how to make your own stencils, and I decided to try it. I liked the idea, because instead of stenciling each individual letter and trying to space and align single letters at a time, I could position the whole entire saying before painting it. It worked wonderfully, but it took FOREVER. I kept telling my family "I should have just spent the money to have someone else do this!" While I was in the middle of carving out each individual letter with an x-acto knife, I told Jon "This quote used to make me cry cause it was so sweet, now it's making me want to cry because I hate doing this tedious project!" It took me (with help from my mom too) about 10 hours one day to prepare the stencil and a couple hours the next day to paint the canvas. It ended up being exactly what I wanted though, and now I can tell my son that I made it just for him!

The total cost for the project was $28

-Canvas: $10

-Paint: $4

-Paint roller/sponges: $2

-X-acto knife: $4 with a coupon

-Contact paper: $2

-Spray adhesive: $6

Step 1

Paint the canvas white. I just used simple acrylic paint and painted a thin layer so that there was a base to paint letters on.

Step 2

Measure out a piece of contact paper to fit the size of your canvas. I just bought some cheap contact paper (like what you use to line drawers/cupboards) at Big Lots. This is what you will be using to make the stencil, so make sure it fits the canvas correctly.

Step 3

Print out your quote and lay it out on the contact paper to get the spacing and arrangement that you want. What I did to get the quote was this: I opened Word and made a text box that was 1/4 the size of the canvas. For example, The canvas I used was 22 x 28 inches, so I made a text box that was 5.5 x 7 inches. I typed the quote, using several different fonts and sizes/styles, so that it was a mini replica of exactly how I wanted it to look on the canvas. I then took each word and multiplied the font size by 4, since the canvas was 4 times the size of the text box I used. I printed out each word, cut the extra paper from around the outside, and taped the words together for each line of the quote, as you can see below.

Step 4

Once you have made sure your quote fits on the canvas and is spaced the way you'd like, you need to attach the words you printed to the contact paper. I did this using adhesive spray. You want to attach the whole word, not just around the edges of the paper. Attach each word (or whole line, if you taped all the words together) to the contact paper in the exact arrangement and spacement that you want. This is what you are going to be stenciling onto the canvas.

Step 5

Next, the fun part. NOT. This part took so long, and I wished I would have just bought a Cricut machine haha. Cut out each letter. Cut through the paper and the contact paper - leave the sticky backing of the contact paper on for this part...don't peel it off yet. I started cutting the letters with an x-acto knife, but found that it was much easier to just use a utility knife, because it cut through all the layers better. I used a cutting board so that I didn't cut through the wooden surface I was working on. My mom helped a lot with this part. She and I both sat watching the Oscar's while we cut letters out.

Step 6

This is how it should look once you've cut out all the letters. For the letters with an inner circle, like the O pictured below, I left a small section attached at the bottom so that when I painted, the entire inside of the letter wasn't filled in. I then went and hand painted the bottom of the O once I was done painting the whole stencil.

Step 7

After the entire stencil has been cut out, peel the backing off the contact paper (slowly, so that you don't rip any of the letters) and attach it to the canvas. I used a credit card to make sure all the letters stuck really well to the canvas. Any parts that weren't completely adhered to the canvas would allow paint to bleed under and mess up the letter. I then took a small paint roller and rolled paint over the whole stencil.

Step 8

After the whole stencil was painted, I peeled the paper off the canvas, again, VERY slowly. Some of the paint had dried a little, but it didn't really make a difference. I then went back and did touch ups and filled in the letters that needed to be completed, like the O's.

The finished product!

31 Weeks!

I can't believe we're down to a single-digit week countdown now...9 weeks left!

I had a rough couple weeks last week and the week before, mostly due to exhaustion. My iron and blood counts were low, so I was so tired and had a few meltdowns. But I started taking some chlorophyll and iron liquid supplements, at the suggestion of Wendy, and am feeling a difference. I'm still tired, but I somehow manage to have the energy to get through each busy day. My stomach is getting larger and larger, and it seems to have really popped in the last few weeks cause I've had a lot of people now that ask me when I'm due and stuff. It's getting harder to breathe, and I get winded pretty easily. I get out of breath and my heart starts racing just from trying to adjust my position in bed sometimes. I've been bumping my stomach on things more, by accident. Clothes are getting more uncomfortable, and I finally bought a stretchy band so that I can keep wearing my regular jeans. I also broke down and bought some comfy baggy maternity shirts from Target. They were only $5 and I needed something that I could wear with leggings when I want to lounge around the house. A lot of my regular shirts still fit, but are getting tighter and tighter. I weighed myself this morning and was 142...so officially 10 pounds more than I was at the beginning of my pregnancy.
I still feel lucky that I have no major complaints so far. Of course, the bigger I get, the more uncomfortable I get, but that's normal. I haven't had any issues with constipation, swelling, nausea, stretch marks, varicose veins, or anything like that. I've been getting a lot more Braxton Hicks contractions now. They feel weird, but aren't painful or anything. I had a ton of them the other day while I was at clinical, and that night too, but I know it was because I hadn't had enough to drink during the day. I have to be careful about that. I've also been drinking Red Raspberry leaf tea because it supposedly helps to strengthen your uterus and make labor quicker and less painful. It can't hurt to try, right?
I don't know if I mentioned this in my last post, but I can finally hear the baby's heartbeat with my stethoscope. It's so exciting! He is kicking harder and harder every day. He can now reach my ribs, and will sometimes kick them. It's not my favorite feeling. He mostly still just kicks my sides. Sometimes it feels like he's having a seizure in there because of how quickly and jerkily he moves. Last night I was lying on my side, and he was like moving his leg/knee up and down my side. Sometimes it felt like he was going to push his foot through my skin, that's how far he was pushing out. It was the coolest feeling. He gets hiccups several times a day, and usually around the same time of night each day. I feel like he must be head down, kind of facing my right side, because I always feel hiccups down toward my left side. However, the other day, it felt like he had rolled over because I felt hiccups on my right side. I have no idea, though. I wish I could see exactly where his little body is positioned. I go to see my midwife today, so maybe she will be able to tell where he is.
According to the websites I visit, Evan is about 4 pounds now and something like 18 inches long! It makes me feel really relieved that he's at the point where if he was born early, he'd most likely be just fine. 4 pounds is still really little, but it's not THAT little when you think of how small some babies are that are born early and survive. The websites say that he is almost fully developed, except for his lungs. Luckily, these days they have steroid shots that they can give babies to speed up their lung development if they are born early. I'm not worried though, I think he's going to be in there for a while longer. He seems pretty comfy. I can't believe how excited I am for him to be born though! Things have been so busy, and will only get busier soon, with finals, and moving, and all that. The last 9 weeks will fly by so quickly, and before we know it, we'll be holding our little boy. It is going to be the most surreal thing ever. I can't even imagine how amazing it will be, to look at him and know that we made him and that he is OURS! I feel him move all the time inside me, and love him so much and feel so connected to him, but it still doesn't feel real sometimes that he will be born and be a real little human being that we get to take care of. It's the craziest thing to think about...in a good way :)