38 Weeks!

Well, I think I can give up hope of missing my 38 week appointment on Tuesday. I have had no indication whatsoever that this guy is coming anytime in the next couple days!

I know he will come when he is ready, but I'm having fun anyways trying all of these "labor inducing techniques." So far I have eaten an entire pineapple (which was great, because I discovered that I LOVE fresh pineapple!). I drink raspberry leaf tea constantly; which again I did research on and found that it is actually extremely beneficial to pregnant women, while NOT being something that induces labor. I've been going for lots of walks, and staying busy. So, he might not come tomorrow, but I just hope he doesn't come past my due date. These last 2 weeks, I can already predict, will be the slowest of my life.

We have everything ready. The hospital bags are packed and in the car, the car seat is in place, and nursery is set up, and the house is staying (relatively) clean. Come on little baby!!!!

So, like I said, I've stayed busy this week. In the last few days, I've started and completed several projects. The first one I'll share is the travel changing mat I made. I made a bag last week and decided it needed a changing mat to go with it. So, sticking with the farm theme, here it is:





I also finished the quilt that I've been writing about for the last couple weeks, FINALLY. I'm so happy it's finished! I made it less baby-ish and more little boy-ish so that he won't grow out of it it so quickly! I spent a lot of time designing this quilt and I'm pretty happy with it.





Next, I took a trip with a friend on Friday and went to this MASSIVE (well, in British terms) fabric shop. It was amazing and depressing, because they had soo many things I wanted, but it was VERY expensive. The fabric I wanted all ranged between £9-£14 PER METER. This is the equivolent of $15-$20 a yard. But, we drove really far to get there and Adam wasn't with us. So I risked my marriage and bought a meter of really expensive brushed cotton (like flannel but reallllly nice) and a meter of fleece. I also bought some patterns for some baby things! So here's what I've made so far...





That's all so far, but I've got even more projects in my head! Oh yeah, I made a cloth diaper this week as well, and I hope to make more once I get some flannel. I'll make some the next size up so after we use the ones we have now, I can make some more! We'll see. Anyways, here's my attempt at making a cloth diaper!





Right. THAT is all for this week's projects! I have some other things in mind, so hopefully I will get those done before baby bradley gets here!

So, due in 2 weeks. I can't believe how fast time has gone by but at the same time, it is going incredibly slow right now. I'm excited beyond belief; I'm nervous for labor but to be honest, I want him here so badly I feel like I would go through anything for him. I just can't wait to hold him.

We had our last antenatal class on Tuesday and it went really well; one of the women in the class had her baby on Wednesday! I'm so happy for them but VERY jealous at the same time. I want mine!!

Oh, speaking of which - here is a photo of me and all the other girls from my class!



It was a great class, I learned a lot and met some really nice people. I hope to stay in contact with some of them, and even more I hope to remember all the things I learned when the big day arrives!!!


That's it for now -- must go eat pizza!!

37 Weeks, 1 Day

Where to begin!...Well, I've reached 37 weeks which is VERY exciting yet nerveracking. The boy is cooked! He can come at any time now and will be fine! What a scary thought. Most of the time I'm calm until I think, "Oh no, what if he decided to come tonight?" I then realize all the things that I need to do. I haven't even finished packing my hospital bag yet!

I have however stayed busy lately. This week I printed off my birth plan, the hospital bag checklist, and started typing up the list of phone numbers of people to call when my little guy is born. I've started putting together the hospital bag, and I have all the things that need to be put together but I just haven't really collected it all in one place yet. Let's hope he doesn't show up before I get that done!

I have been reading all of these "Self-inducing labor tips," and so far have tried sitting on my birthing ball for a long period of time (Supposed to get him in the right position for birth), going for a semi-long walk (This means about 15 minutes...haha), and eating curry. I didn't make the curry spicy enough I don't think - since he's still in there. haha. I've also ordered some raspberry leaf tea, which I have been sworn to by some that it will make him come imminently - however, I've done some reading about it and it doesn't really induce labour. It DOES strengthen the uterus muscles though, and according to research will help my contractions be more effective, and also make it less likely to need intervention. There are actually a LOT of benefits to drinking raspberry leaf tea in the last weeks of pregnancy, so I'm looking forward to trying it. It should get here tomorrow.

I've also stayed busy making things! Long story short, I got a sewing machine after many attempts. Since I've gotten the machine, I've made 2 quilts, a baby sling, 6 placemats, and a bag. It's been soo much fun.

The first quilt I made (pre-sewing machine), I hand stitched. This was extremely time consuming. I made this to match the farm theme in my boy's nursery. Here it is:






My second quilt, which was using the sewing machine, is REALLY cute - BUT I don't want to post it on here quite yet because I'm sending it to a friend and I don't want to ruin the surprise :)

The third quilt is done with the exception of the back, which I hope to put on tomorrow. I don't have any photos of it uploaded right now but when it's done I'll put them up. This quilt is also for my little boy - it is red, blue and black and has different types of transportation on it :)

Today's projects were a bag and some placemats. The bag was more of an experiment, but i LOVE it and can't wait to make another one. There were a couple of mistakes made, but now that I know what I'm doing I think I'll be able to improve when I get some more fabric.

Here's the bag:







After I made the bag, we decided that a good use of the leftover material would be to make some placemats! So, here they are!





Last but not least, I made a sling yesterday. While I know the photo isn't much to look at, when I put it on it's soo cute and amazing how something so simple can clearly hold a baby! I borrowed the pattern from

http://www.mykarmababy.com/pages/BabySlingPattern.php

Very easy and fun to make!




That's all the photos I have for now but there will definitely be more to come!

In other news...tomorrow is our last antenatal class. I can't believe how fast it's flown by. There are a lot of things that I want to remember about this pregnancy, (hence writing the blog), so I should also update on the fact that I wake up every morning around 5 (or earlier) and can't sleep for several hours. It's very annoying. This morning I laid there for so long I eventually got up and had breakfast then went back to bed til 9.

My hands swell at night, HORRIBLY. They hurt every morning when I wake up. Aside from the little aches and pains though, I don't have many things to complain about pregnancy-wise, so I'll take it. :)

My little boy still moves a LOT, and can really push himself out really far which sometimes scares me. Haha. He hasn't "dropped" yet, but I've heard that they can put this off until right before labor, so I'm not too concerned. He is head down though, so that's what matters.

We've just started making big meals and freezing the leftovers - I've been told by LOTS of people that this is a good idea since I won't have much time to cook in the next few months.



I think that is all for now! I will probably update again this week since we have our last class tomorrow. I have my next appointment at 38 weeks, next Tuesday. Here's hoping I don't have to go to it!!! :o)

36 Weeks, 3 Days. . . 25 Days to go!

Well I can easily start off by saying that I am ready to not be pregnant anymore! This past week I have felt (and been told by many) that I am huge. My midwife saw me and said, "you are as wide as you are tall! Thanks, midwife. Thanks.

I wake up every morning with very sore hands. They don't appear to be very swollen, but they feel so big and they are painful! I am looking forward to that not happening anymore.

I sleep for intervals of about 2 hours. I have to wee and roll over, which is a process within itself. I am finding that being this big is extremely restricting and I do not like it!

On a positive note, I have my 36 week appointment yesterday and it went really well. Once again my midwife was astonished at how "fit and healthy" I am: I have great blood pressure and am right on target with weight gain. I have gained just over 25 lbs, and the average weight gain is between 25-35 lbs. She also told me that at this rate the baby will probably weigh about 8lbs, however I do not believe her. I mean, I don't know what he will weigh - but I have NEVER known these guesses to be correct. I have too many friends/family who have been told they were having 10-12lb babies and ended up having 7-8 lb babies. You just really can't tell how much he/she is going to weigh.

Well..what else? last night we had our antental class. I can't believe that next week is our last one!! Crazy how quickly the time has gone by. On Thursday we had a breasfeeding session which was really helpful. I'm really looking forward to breastfeeding! I am a little nervous about how it's all going to work out with the whole going out in public thing, but I'm sure I will get over it.

The class last night was good, we talked about what our needs as parents were within the first 6 months of baby being born. Obviously my needs included: Eating, Showering, and having a clean house. I also requested that Adam give me a diamond for every hour I am in labor, but I don't think that worked :o).

We also had to hand a baby doll around the room while it was "crying" and say what we would do. So we each had to think of a different reason why the baby might be crying, and then pass the baby along. I held him and said that he obviously wanted a cookie, and proceeded to shove a cookie in his face. It was funny but I think he kept crying. bahha. So to appease my class, I said I would give him a bath and see if that calmed him down.

We then talked about colic. This scared me. I think after last night I started realizing that we are actually having a baby. He is going to cry and we aren't always going to know why. This makes me anxious just thinking about. I can say that I am genuinely excited for holding him and being with him, for trying to ease his crying and just love him. I cannot wait to hold my little boy. I spend long periods of time trying to think about what he will look like. I can't really imagine it; but it is fun to think about. I am definitely getting nervous though for the fact that I don't know much about babies. I mean, I remember my little brother being little and taking care of him, but if I was ever in doubt I just handed him to my mom. No problem. But now my mom is really, really far away.

Anyways. This is all to say that the reality is sinking in. In 4 days the baby will be considered "full term." THIS is a scary thought. He could come at any time! I have yet to pack my hospital bag or even write my birth plan. I just keep putting it off! I am going to look online for all the silly ways to induce labor though. See what I can get to work. Surely if I start at 37 weeks then he will HAVE to come a LITTLE early, right? I've been told drinking raspberry leaf tea does the trick, so we'll see.

My next midwife appointment is in 2 weeks. I made the appointment hoping that I wouldn't have to actually go to it. I would be quite happy with this little guy showing up at 38 weeks!

35 weeks! Only 35 days to go....

Well, this week has been hectic to say the least! We had Uncharted Waters Sports Ministry with us this week, and I was in charge of serving 50+ children dinner every night. I had a lot of help but it was still crazy! This week has been hot as well, so needless to say...I'm exhausted.

Fortunately the exhaustion has come at the right time, since today is my first official day of Maternity Leave! I have the next 39 weeks off of work, PAID! I am ready to just relax - hopefully this little guy sticks around in there until he is due so I can catch up on some sleep before I lose it all again :)

And now, for the first time, I am experiencing real pregnancy symptoms. First of all, I am finally tired. I wasn't tired in the first 12 weeks when everyone said I would. Now, I go upstairs to get dressed and I sit down and pretty much wake up 2 1/2 hours later. I've done this several times. It reminds me of my time at ENC with my roommate Brooky...I would come back to the room every afternoon and lay down, and she would say, "Are you going to take a nap?" and I would say, "no, I'm just laying down for a minute." I would then wake up several hours later. Haha. Good times.

I also officially have swollen feet AND hands. I've been asked several times this week if my feet were swelling, and I kept saying, "no, they hurt but they aren't swollen." I got home Tuesday night, looked down, and shouted to Adam, "WHERE ARE MY ANKLES!??" It was funny but painful and sad at the same time...haha. Since then I've tried keeping my feet up, but now am finding that my hands are swelling. They are FAT. They hurt at night. I can't snap my fingers without feeling pain...I guess it's called Oedema or something like that, and I keep reading that I should drink lots of water. So I'm trying.

Well that's all really. No other major symptoms! I am actually not as big as I imagined myself to be at this point, which is great. I mean, I think I'm still on the upper weight gain limit, but I always imagined myself at 35 weeks pregnant to feel like a WHALE. I don't really feel like a whale. I do feel uncomfortable a lot, but when I look down I don't think that I am THAT ginormous. I supposedly will gain another 5 lbs, which I think I can deal with...we'll see.

So, like I said, I'm now on maternity leave! I have 5 weeks between now and the due date, so I've started making a list of things for me to due. This list includes (but is not limited to) the following:

- Quilting. I have started my first quilt for my little boy, and also have a couple other quilts in mind that I want to make. I am VERY excited about this...but annoyed because I don't own a sewing machine so I am borrowing one for the time being. I want my own.

- Painting/Designing letters of my little boy's name to put on his bedroom door.

- Writing my birth plan

- Cleaning. A lot.

- Organizing the baby's clothes over and over again.

- Finding fun craft ideas for the baby's room - like the cloth book holder that a friend of mine is making; such a cool idea!



...and more. My main focus right now is on the quilting, and I'm really looking forward to spending some time on it. I took a quilting class in highschool and can remember most of what I learned...so look at that, highschool DID pay off!


I really want the baby to come early. I mean, not too early. I'd glad accept 38 weeks. I do NOT want to be waiting around past 40 weeks, although I've heard that it is common for your first baby to be late. Whatever, I live in hope!



I think that's all for now. I can't believe that I am on maternity leave and only have a month left before the baby is due. I feel prepared but not. I'm so unbelievably excited. I can't even think about my little boy without crying...I wonder what he will look like, and I can't wait to hug him! I know it will pass, but I am looking forward to those sleepness nights because of how badly I want him here!