More milestones

My little girl is growing up! She is always learning to do new things and the latest ones are:

-She can hold her head up quite well by herself now.
-She's a pro at spitting and blowing raspberries and she enjoys doing it often!

-She knows to ham it up for the camera.

-She figured out how to shake her head but she doesn't know what it means yet...so it looks like she says "no" all the time!

-She gives Mommy open-mouthed "kisses" when I bring my face close to hers. It's the cutest thing ever!

-She grabs at everything now...whether that is my hair, my clothes, or even my face!

Jumperoo

I was SO excited when my parents got Hadley her Jumperoo for Christmas! She is constantly kicking with those strong legs of hers so I figured that she would absolutely have a ball with one of those jumpers. She does like it and will happily spend over half an hour in it playing with the toys in front of her, but she hasn't quite figured out the jumping part of it yet. We actually had to put a thick blanket down on the floor for her so that her feet would reach the ground! She needs to either gain a little more weight or grow another inch to her legs to be able to bounce without the blanket. I am really looking forward to when she gets good at jumping in it...I think she'll never want to get out!

Christmas time

We spent this Christmas at my Grandmom's house (as is the tradition) and I would say it went really well. I have to admit I was a tad nervous about Hadley spending 3 days and 2 nights in a new place, but she handled it very well. The only time she had any problem was when she had trouble falling asleep on Christmas Eve. She doesn't cry often, but when she gets the most upset, it's because she's overly tired and can't fall asleep. We finally got her to bed and she had to miss the whole evening with the family. Christmas Day went much better. She was her usual happy self and I think she really enjoyed being with all the family. Not surprisingly, she didn't take too much interest in her presents...I could have given her some wrapping paper for Christmas and I think she would have been just as happy.

It's really exciting having a little one in the family again....it's been about 15 years since there was a baby around (in my side of the family) so now we've gotten around to having kids coming along again. :-) Next year, she'll be mobile - Yikes!

She really lucked out and got to have SNOW on her very first Christmas! We hadn't had that happen in GA in over a hundred years!

Smiley girl

Hadley has started smiling for the camera alot and she giggles quite often now, too. I love it! Just had to share a couple more of my latest favorite Hadley pics:

Doctor's visit

Today we took Hadley for her 4-month doctor appointment and I am THRILLED to say that it went really well. Here are her stats:

Height: 24" (39th percentile) - exactly the same % as last time
Weight: 12lbs., 10oz. (27th percentile) - up a little from the 23rd percentile at her 2 month checkup. Yay!
Head circumference: 16.5" (63rd percentile) - must be that big brain she has!

She had to get her vaccines again at this visit but she took them like a champ. She didn't even cry with the first one and she only cried for about 3 seconds with the second (more painful) one. The nurse kept going on and on about how cute Hadley is and how laid-back she is. I guess if a nurse who sees babies all day, everyday says yours is particularly cute, then she must know what she's talking about. :-)

They gave her some really cute little bandaids for the injection sites...here she is modeling them:

4 months old!

So Hadley had her 4 month birthday on Tuesday...here are some photos I took to commemorate the occasion. :-)

New addiction

Since finding out I was going to have a baby, I have become addicted to buying children's books for her. Books were actually the first thing I ever bought for her. I loved reading so much when I was a kid and I really hope that she will have a love for it, too. It's so much fun shopping for children's books....it brings me back to the days when I was reading these kinds of stories and I've gotten Hadley many of the same books I loved as a child. I've been reading to Hadley for a few months now even though she usually doesn't pay that much attention to the pages yet. It's supposed to be good for her to hear the tones and inflections in my voice as I read so that it will help her when she begins to speak. By the time she's able to read by herself, she's going to have plenty of books to keep her busy!

Feeding update

I weighed Hadley today and she is 12lbs, 1-1/2oz. Woohoo!! I'm so excited to see her pass the 12lb. mark! As many of you know, she has never been a great eater and has been very slow to gain weight, but she's been doing much better in the last month or so. I think the turning point was when we started adding rice cereal to her bottles. She also has been drinking formula for the last couple weeks instead of breastmilk. I made the decision to stop breastfeeding after 3 months. I originally was planning on doing it for 6 months but with her not eating well and barely putting on weight when she was breastfeeding, I ended up deciding to pump several times a day and give it to her in bottles so I could at least know how much she was getting. Doing that got very tiresome and honestly, I am thrilled to not have to use a breastpump again for a long time. I think it was best for both of us for her to switch to formula.

She is still a small little thing, but she is perfectly healthy and as far as I can tell is putting on weight at a good pace. She will be 4 months old in a week and I'm hoping for a good checkup when we take her to her doctor's appointment. :-)

Bubbles & Squeals

Here are a couple new videos of our little munchkin making noises. She loves to spit now...she takes her lips together and makes spit bubbles as you can see in the first video. I think she likes the sound it makes!

She also talks and squeals alot...sometimes quite loudly! This second video has Hadley really excited.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hadley enjoyed her first Thanksgiving yesterday and we all had such a great time! Hadley was a good girl (as usual) but it was funny to watch her with everyone. She is usually pretty talkative at home but with all those people around, she was pretty quiet and mostly just observed everyone. By the time we left to go home, she was all tuckered out!

Baptism

Hadley was baptised this past Sunday, Nov. 21st and it was really a great day. We kept it pretty small...just us, the four grandparents and Hadley's godparents, Sharon and Travis. It was perfect. Hadley behaved really well which was amazing considering how cranky she had been right before we headed to the church. She was due for her nap, but since it was time to get her dressed for her big day, I couldn't let her sleep right then. Fortunately, she promptly fell asleep in the church during the first part of the ceremony. She woke up when we moved to the baptismal font but she just quietly observed everyone and she didn't even cry when the deacon poured the water on her head! Good job, Hadley!

3 months old!

Hadley turned 3 months old on Sunday and I can hardly believe how fast the time has flown by! I have truly loved being a mommy and even though it has had it's difficult moments, for the most part, it's been wonderful. I don't think I could ask for a sweeter baby.

Monday was the first time she laughed out loud. We had been waiting to hear that since she was born and I was so excited when I finally heard it! Her latest thing is that she has discovered her feet and she's realized that she can grab them so when she's laying on her back, she's almost always got her feet in the air. At least she's not putting them in her mouth yet!

Here are a few photos of her at 3 months:

Family expectations

I'm finding that with the holidays and other events involving our families coming up, it's sometimes hard not to stress about trying to make everyone happy. But I am slowly starting to realize that sometimes that is just not possible.

For instance, Hadley is going to be baptised soon and I was just thinking it would be a small group of us - Me, Rey and Hadley, the grandparents and maybe a couple of close friends. However, I get the impression that Rey's family expects the whole family to come and that we need to make a big day of it. There is nothing wrong with the way they want to do it...it's just not what I had in mind. I definitely believe that a baptism is a special day but I don't feel the need for a lot of fanfare.

They asked us if we were going to throw a party after the baptism and to be honest, the thought had not even crossed my mind. The idea of having a big group of people in our little house and having to make food for everyone and decorate, etc. sounds pretty stressful to me. Not to mention the fact that a 3 month old can only go so long before she needs to be fed again and has to take a nap. This does not leave much time for a party and having everyone over would most definitely be loud. It just seems like a setup for a screaming baby to me. Of course, having been asked if we were going to have a party made me start to worry that that is what everyone would expect of us.

Having our baby baptised is a wonderful, happy occasion and I really don't want to make it stressful for me, Rey, OR for Hadley. I'm thinking maybe as a compromise we will invite everyone to come out to eat with us after the baptism. If everyone comes, great. If some people need to get back home or have other plans, that's fine, too.

I think Rey and I are just going to have to start doing things OUR way sometimes and just accept that we can't always make everyone happy. After all, we are our own little family now. :-)

She's stylin'

Just thought I'd share a picture of Hadley in her new sunglasses. It was too cute not to share!

Baby talk

Hadley continues to change and grow and learn new things. She "talks" all the time now. Instead of just the occasional little vowel sound, she strings lots of sounds together and will sometimes have "conversations" lasting several minutes. I have no idea what she's trying to say but I definitely wonder what's in that little head of hers! She also squeals which I think is just the cutest thing.

Her newest thing is that she likes sitting up now (still assisted, though). She enjoys facing out and being able to see the things around her. We usually either sit her in the Boppy pillow or in her Bumbo seat. See pics below.




We took her back to the doctor yesterday for yet another weight check and she's doing a bit better. She's up to 10lbs., 6oz. Still on the small side, but the doc says that she's alright as long as she continues to gain weight and doesn't lose any. He also suggested giving her a couple of feedings a day with rice cereal in a bottle to give her some more calories. We started that today and she seemed to like it. Yay!

Baby milestones

Hadley's doing new things and it is funny how excited I get when I see her be able to do something new! She's recently started to be able to grip and hold things in her hands. I've seen her hold her pacifier a few times now. She can also bring her hands together and clasp them. She was doing that earlier today and it looked like she was praying. So cute! When she's awake and alert she is pretty vocal. I love listening to all the little sounds she makes. Lots of little babbles and 'ahh' sounds and the occasional squeal. She smiles quite often but we haven't heard her laugh yet. Definitely looking forward to that!

Here she is clasping her hands together. Looks like she's saying, "Please, Mommy...can't I stay up a little longer?"

She is also starting to enjoy her bouncy seat. She didn't like it too much at first...we would put her in it and she would just cry. But now she likes it! Thanks, Grandmom and Grandad!

Crazy hair!

Here are some photos of the wacky hair Hadley's been sporting in the last month...

First, we have the "Don King" look:



And Pebbles from the Flintstones:



And finally, we have Krusty the Clown:

All about Hads

This post is more for me so that I can look back at it one day when I no longer remember all of these little details about Hadley as a little baby. So...without further ado, here are some facts about my sweet little girl:


-She cannot keep a pair of socks on to save her life. She's always kicking and moving (much like she did in the womb!) and no matter which socks I put on her, they are always floating in her blanket whenever I go to pick her up.


-She is a pretty happy baby and does not cry all that often. Thank God! Things that usually make babies cry, don't make her get that upset. She doesn't scream about a wet diaper...after awhile, it will make her a little fussy, but that's about it. She also does not often cry when she's getting her clothes changed or having her diaper changed. The only things that typically make her scream are when she's gotten really hungry or overly tired.


-So far, I have never had to rock her to sleep at night. When it's nighttime and we take her upstairs to go to bed, she just goes to sleep. The only thing that sometimes keeps her up for a little while is if she's soothing herself with her pacifier and she lets it fall out of her mouth before she's asleep. That makes her fuss and one of us has to get up and put it back in her mouth.


-She usually wakes up between 6am and 7:30am and starts fussing even though she isn't hungry yet. I've found that if I bring her into our bed and cuddle with her, she'll usually go back to sleep for another hour or two which is great for the weekend when I try to sleep in a little. Also, I just like cuddling with her!


-She does not like being in her carseat unless it's in a moving vehicle. If I try to carry her somewhere in her carseat, she usually starts fussing before long.


-Her hair has a mind of its own. It will not lay down (trust me, I've tried) so until it grows long enough to weigh itself down, it's just going to stick up.

the perfect bottle

Some of you may think I'm crazy, but I am SO excited to have found a bottle that Hadley likes! It's called the Breastflow bottle. With other bottles, it would take FOREVER to get her to finish just 1 oz. of fluid, but with this new bottle, she can down 2-3oz. in 15 minutes! Also, with this bottle, she doesn't dribble the milk down her chin so I don't have to put a bib on her anymore. We have found a new formula that has helped her to spit up less, too! In case you're wondering, it's Enfamil AP. This has definitely made feedings less difficult and anything to help feed her is a good thing!

As great as all that is, I think maybe she ate a little too much this afternoon. I was trying to give her a bottle and she let loose a massive poo. I had her in my lap, and a couple minutes after I heard her poop, my lap felt really warm. Uh oh...not good. So I went to change her, and it had gone all up her back! Ugh. After I finally got her cleaned up (which took several baby wipes and a complete change of clothes), I assessed my warm lap. I had a big wet spot which I'm not sure if it was poo or pee but I knew I needed to change asap. I ran upstairs, Hadley in tow, and shoved her in Rey's arms so he could put her clean outfit on while I cleaned myself up and changed pants. It was quite an ordeal. The icing on the cake is that this all happened just hours after we had given her a bath. She's probably going to kill me for telling this story when she's older, but oh, well...I needed to share my misery!

Medical mayhem

I don't know what's going on, but there must be something bad in the water or something. My family has had two health crisises in the last few days. First, my dad had to have emergency surgery this weekend because he found out he had a blood clot in his femoral artery and several smaller clots that had broken off into his lungs. It was pretty scary for awhile there. Had one of those clots gotten to his heart or his brain, he could have died. I have to admit that as soon as I heard "blood clot" I was really concerned. Thankfully, he got to the hospital just in time to get it under control.

The day after Dad's surgery, Rey woke up with a red, stinging eye. It got progressively worse through the day and the next day (Monday) he couldn't even open it because it hurt so much. He went to the eye doctor and found out that he had bruised his cornea. The doctor put a clear bandage on the surface of his eye (which I didn't even know they could do!) to help it heal but on Tuesday, Rey was in agonizing pain. His bad eye hurt even WORSE and was even redder and it hurt to even close his eye which made sleeping practically impossible. At this point, he couldn't even open his GOOD eye because it made the other one hurt more. By now he had been basically blind for 3 days. He went back to the doctor this morning and they took off the bandage because apparently, Rey's eye hadn't taken well to it and it had gotten infected. Now he is taking antibiotic drops every hour and he has to go back to the doctor again in the morning.

It's been a pretty awful last few days. Poor Rey has been in tons of pain and unable to do anything...he can't sleep, watch tv, read, use the computer...nothing. I have been really stressed out b/c I'm having to take care of everything (including the baby) until he gets better. I'm definitely ready for Rey to recover...here's hoping that this weekend is much better than the last one!

Feeding frustrations

Hadley's one month doctor visit was on Tuesday and I was SO hoping for a good weigh-in. However, I ended up frustrated and disappointed when she still weighed the same as she had a week and 1/2 earlier. She's still right at 9lbs. - not even up to her birth weight yet. For her weight, length and head circumference she is between the 45-47th percentile. Right in the middle. The doctor says she's healthy right now, but she needs to start gaining weight asap because as she gains length, if she isn't gaining ounces, she will start to get too skinny.

I am back to supplementing her feedings with formula and I'm also working with a lactation consultant to get her suggestions. She thinks that what might be the problem is that Hadley is breastfeeding, but just not feeding effectively enough to increase my milk production. She says that once I get some weight on her (through the formula supplements) that she should start wanting more breastmilk. Until then, whenever I give her a bottle, I'm supposed to pump. So I'm breastfeeding, giving a bottle, then pumping several times a day. Each time I do this, it takes about an hour so I'm hoping this phase won't last too long...it's exhausting! But mainly I'm just hoping it works b/c I want my baby to be healthy and I want to be able to give her breastmilk as long as I'm able to.

Baby update

At Hadley's last weight check, she had gained 3oz. so I was really happy to know that her weight was moving in the right direction. We go back again for her 1-month checkup next week so I'm hoping that she'll be over 10lbs. by then. She seems to be very healthy and is having plenty of dirty diapers each day so I think she's doing well.

She is also a good sleeper. Almost TOO good. When she's out, there is no waking her. I can pick her up, talk to her, move her arms and legs around and she won't even open an eyelid. However, she does sometimes have trouble getting to sleep and when that happens, she gets very fussy. She's still in the process of learning to soothe herself, so when we know that she's tired and we put her down to sleep, she often makes little noises for awhile and flails her arms in the air until she falls asleep. Rey and I often joke that she's "conducting her orchestra" when she does that.

Hadley's First Bath

As I expected, Hadley did not enjoy her first bath very much. She screamed through most of it but we got her clean!

This is at the beginning of the bath...she's not too sure about this...


She's decided that she definitely doesn't like it...


And now she's expressing her feelings to me in a lovely, non-verbal way...

And no, we did not pose her like this! Rey just happened to catch this on camera.

Eat, eat, eat!

We took Hadley to the doctor's office on Monday and she had lost about 6 oz. from her birth weight so they told us to just keep doing what we were doing and bring her back on Thursday for another weight check. She was eating all the time and had plenty of dirty diapers so I thought surely she would have gained some weight at her Thursday check-up, but somehow she managed to lose another 1/2 ounce. The doctor didn't seem all that concerned and he told us to bring her back on Monday for another weigh-in but I told him how often she had been breastfeeding and that I felt maybe she needed to be supplemented with a little bit of formula.

I then talked to one of the nurses there and this is what she told me to do:
-Breastfeed every 2 hours and try to get her to do about 15 minutes on each side (no more than 30 minutes total)
-Give a 1 or 1-1/2 oz. bottle of formula after breastfeeding
-Use the breastpump after each feeding to encourage milk production

The more I think about it, the more ridiculous that all sounds. Breastfeeding every 2 hours for 30 minutes each time would mean she would be at the breast practically all day long and I would barely get a break. Not to mention the fact that she just will not eat that often. After she eats, she usually gets sleepy and once she gets to sleep, you cannot force her to eat. So this makes giving her a bottle supplement a real challenge as well. She typically will only take a bottle supplement a couple times a day but I keep offering it to her. And I'm sorry, but there is no way that after feeding Hadley for 30 minutes, I am going to go and pump after that. It is just too much. I tried it yesterday afternoon and I barely got anymore milk anyway so it seemed like such a waste of time.

I feed her whenever she's hungry and I often wake her to feed her, too but I still worry she won't have put on weight when I take her back to the doctor on Monday. I just don't know what else to do. If she's not hungry, she won't take more food. Guess we'll see how it goes on Monday...

Hadley's coming home!

After she was born, Hadley's pediatrician decided it would be best for her to go the NICU to get checked out for a few issues she was having. She had a different (incompatible) blood type to mine so that put her at risk for jaundice so they put her on the blue light photo therapy for 2 or 3 days - more as a preventative measure than anything else. Her biliruben number was always pretty low, which is a good thing, but they said if they didn't have her under the light therapy, it was likely that she would become jaundiced in her first couple days of life.

Since she was a big baby, they checked her blood sugar because bigger or smaller than average babies tend to have trouble regulating their blood sugars right after they're born. Her blood sugar was low and my breastmilk wasn't enough to keep it up at first so they had to supplement with formula. After about 3 days, she was able to skip the formula supplements. When I've gone to visit her lately, I've been able to breastfeed her and as long as she's hungry, she does pretty well. I also have been pumping every 3 hours when I'm at home and I bring the frozen milk to the NICU when I go so that the nurses can give it to her when I can't be there.

The other issue she had at birth was a little bit of fluid in her lungs. The neonatologist thought it was a sign of infection so he put her on antibiotics and she had to eat through a little tube in her throat for a couple of days until her breathing slowed down. They had been worried that due to her quicker breathing, she might aspirate if she ate on her own.

Those first 2-3 days, our poor little girl was hooked up to all sorts of things and it was tough to see her like that. Thankfully, she recovered very quickly, and for the last couple of days, she's been completely fine. She was off the feeding tube, the breathing tube and IV a few days ago...we're just waiting on her to finish her 7 day round of antibiotics so we can take her home.

We're so excited to bring her home! She'll be released Saturday morning so we've only got one more day. Of course, we are a little nervous, too but I know we'll figure it out. I'm just so glad that's she's healthy.

Hadley's here!

It seemed like forever waiting for her arrival, but miss Hadley Rose Del Valle was born Saturday, 8-14-10! Here's the labor and deliver details....I started having intense contractions, 5 min. apart at about 4am. We were leaving for the hospital by 5:45am and right about the time we started to leave, the contractions got to 2 minutes apart. I wasn't sure what to expect with contractions, but let me tell you, they HURT. Bad. I was also starting to worry on the way to the hospital that she might come really fast since the contractions had sped up so soon.

Once we got to our labor & delivery room, they checked to see how dilated I was and I was already at 6cm! All I wanted at this point was the epidural, but they said they'd have to give me an IV first and let a bag a fluids get in my system before they could administer the epidural. I know I sound like a big wimp, but that IV was pretty painful...much worse than getting the epidural. They had to try two different times to put in the IV because the first vein they tried rolled. This was really not fun and having intense contractions while they were doing it was not helping. I FINALLY got the epidural around 7:30. Haaaalelujah! I started feeling its effects pretty quickly which was a big relief.

Then I started feeling woozy and nauseaus and a couple nurse rushed in and told me that the epidural had made my blood pressure drop really low. They gave me some medicine in my IV and then had to give me a shot in my leg to get it under control. I had to wear an oxygen mask for an hour or two to make sure that Hadley was getting enough oxygen but after things had been stable for awhile, they let me take it off. After that craziness, it was pretty much smooth sailing. They told me it was time to start pushing and I was preparing myself to possibly push for a very long time, but I somehow pushed her out in 25 minutes! I guess I just started pushing the right way from the start so they told me to just keep doing what I was doing and out she came. She was born at 1:06pm. So from the time I got to the hospital to the time she was born, it took about 7 hours.

They pulled her out and I started hearing them say that she was big...probably 8 or 9lbs! I couldn't believe it since the doctors had been telling me the whole time that I was measuring average and that she'd probably be around 7-1/2 lbs. Boy, were they wrong....she ended up weighing 9lbs., 6oz. and she is 20.5" long. And she's a cutie! She had a full head of dark hair and cute chubby cheeks! I still am not totally sure what color her eyes are even though she looks at us alot. They just aren't a real distinct color yet. I'm sure they'll be either blue or brown but we'll have to wait and see.

Monday deadline

I finally know that the finish line is in sight! My doctor is going to induce me on Monday morning if Hadley doesn't come on her own this weekend. When she checked me yesterday, I was 4-1/2 cm dilated and she was pretty surprised I hadn't gone into active labor already. Since I am so dilated, she said I can go ahead and call in when I get regular contractions for 30 min. to an hour instead of waiting the usual 2 hours. Rey and I were thinking we'd probably do that anyway since we can't help but worry that once I do start having regular, strong contractions that my baby will be coming very quickly. It could happen pretty much anytime now, but it's good to know that she'll be born on Monday at the latest. I am ready!

I'm so uncomfortable right now, it hurts to move. I have a lot of pelvic pressure everytime I stand up and I keep getting intense menstrual-type cramps. Between that and the lower back pain, I don't get around very easily right now. I'm walking around like an old woman...or maybe I should say I'm "waddling" around like an old woman. I can't wait to see what my baby looks like and be able to hold her...and it's no secret that I am ready to be done being pregnant for awhile! My next post will include Hadley's first pics...so stay tuned! :-)

Anytime now...

I went back to the doctor on Monday because of the swelling in my hands and feet and I thought I should have my blood pressure checked. It was kinda high but they didn't seem too concerned. While I was there, they went ahead and did another cervical exam and found that I was 3 to 4 centimeters dilated and 80% effaced! The doctor said I was "right at ready" and could go into labor any time. Music to my ears!

Last night I was having contractions all through the night and into this morning. Since I thought this must surely mean I would need to head to the hospital today, I went ahead and got up around 5am to take a shower and finish packing the last few things in my hospital bag. Needless to say, I barely got any sleep because of the contractions and now they've stopped! I had them for several hours but they never really got to regular intervals. My doctor says I need to have them every 5 minutes for 2 hours before I call them. These started out about every 20 minutes, then went to about every 10...but then they were all over the place. Every 12 minutes, 8 minutes, 10 minutes, 5 minutes...etc. I am so disappointed. I thought I'd be holding my baby probably by this evening and now I'm still sitting at home. :-(

a little progress

I went to my doctor on Friday and she said I was 2 centimeters dilated! While I'm glad my body is doing what it's supposed to do to prepare for labor, I know not to get that excited. From what I've heard/read, you can be dilated up to 3 centimeters for weeks before you actually go into active labor. I still haven't really had what I've heard contractions are supposed to feel like. I've just had occasional painful menstrual-type cramps. From what I understand, the cramps are kind of like "baby contractions" that are helping my cervix to dilate and my body to prepare for going into labor.

Last night I had a little bit of a scare. I had gone to my book club meeting and during the course of the evening, I noticed that my feet and ankles had gotten really swollen...like quite a bit more than I'd ever seen before. I hadn't been on my feet all that much, so I didn't really have anything that would explain the swelling. I didn't stay as late as I usually do and when I got home I checked my blood pressure since I thought maybe it could have caused the swelling. It was really high when I checked it at first, but my pulse was also pretty high and Rey and I figured that the reading was probably due to stress since I had gotten myself so worried. We took it again about 20 minutes later and it was still a bit high, but it was much better than before. I'm going to keep checking it for the next few days just to make sure I don't see anything I need to call a doctor about. Since I had just been to the doctor on Friday and my blood pressure was fine then, I'm hopeful that last night was just a fluke caused by my own anxiety.

Aw, come ON...

It just figures! There were two other girls I know that were due about the same time as me....and now BOTH of them have had their babies already. One of them was due 3 or 4 days before me and she had her baby a few weeks ago. The other one was due a week AFTER me and she just had her baby. Her baby was healthy and fully-developed so I'm thinking mine must be beyond ready to be born by now...I wish there was some way to just MAKE it happen. Also, I know that the longer she stays in, the bigger she's going to be when she's born. Yikes.

I know some of you will think this is silly, but last night as I was cuddling with my cat, Simba I starting worrying that he might turn into a different cat after the baby comes. Right now, he is my baby...he follows me everywhere and is constantly at my side. It's like HE is my child. I'm not as concerned about our other cats because they are more independent. I worry that Simba will be really jealous when we bring Hadley home and aren't able to pay him as much attention. I'm going to do my best to still give him loving, but I know things are going to different. :-(

What cravings?

I always heard about pregnant women having all these intense cravings...but that hasn't been the case with me. In fact, I have hardly craved anything. I find myself trying to decide what to eat for lunch and nothing sounds good. My usual, go-to foods just sound boring, but nothing else I can think of really sounds that great, either. The only thing that just about always sounds good to me is fruit. Oh, and maybe ice cream. Although, I definitely try not to be eating tons of ice cream for obvious reasons!

I think Rey has had it pretty easy. No late-night runs to the grocery store for him! I do think maybe he's gotten frustrated when we're trying to figure out what to do for dinner sometimes. Since he's the one who handles the cooking, it's usually up to him to decide what he's going to make. Problem is, he'll tell me what he is thinking he'll cook and lately my answer is often, "Ehh...that doesn't really sound good to me". I hope this doesn't mean our daughter will be a picky eater!

Full term!

Today my baby is technically considered "full-term". If she were born today, she would no longer be considered a "preemie". So basically, she's fully developed, she's just hanging out in there continuing to put on a little extra weight. I've been having talks with her to let her know when it would be most convenient for her to make her appearance. I guess we'll have to wait and see how obedient she is!

I made an appointment for Saturday morning to get a 90 minute pregnancy massage at a spa near my house and I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to it. I love massages anytime, but with all the aches and pains I'm having lately, a 90 minute massage sounds like pure heaven. I normally wouldn't splurge on myself like this, but I found out that my credit card that I earn rewards from offers SpaFinder gift certificates as one of the things I can get for my rewards points. So I paid for the whole thing using my credit card rewards! :-)

I've been telling Hadley that she can come this Sunday or anytime in the 2 weeks after that. Don't know if I'll be lucky enough to have her come when I want her to, though. At my doctor's visit last week, she said I shouldn't be upset if I go past my due date since that's what they often see with first-time pregnancies. That was NOT what I wanted to hear. That, and the fact that my doctor won't induce labor until you've gone 2 weeks past your due date unless there's a medical reason they NEED to. I don't care what my doctor says...if I go past my due date, I will be upset.

Gift from Grandmom

I got a funny gift in the mail from my Grandmom today that I just had to share with you all. It's a pregnancy voodoo doll! I'm not exactly sure how it's supposed to be used, but I'm assuming that when you stick an area with the pin, it's supposed to take away that symptom? Or maybe if I'm using it against someone, I could stick the area with the pin and GIVE them that symptom? I wouldn't do that, though...

Front view:

Back view:

Pity party

I do not like being pregnant. There. I said it. If you do not want to hear the complaints of woman nearing the end of her pregnancy, then by all means, skip this post. Also, if you are newly pregnant and don't want to become depressed about what you may face in a few months, you may also want to skip this one.

Let me start by saying that I can name three things I've enjoyed with this pregnancy, but that's it.
1) The excitement of being pregnant and looking forward to having a baby
2) Viewing the first images of my baby via ultrasound
3) Feeling my baby's movements

I am now at a point where even feeling the baby move is not fun because she's so cramped in there, every movement causes some level of discomfort for me. Don't get me wrong...I am definitely glad she's moving because it would be a very bad sign if she wasn't, but when I have an elbow or a heel pushing into my belly from the inside out, it doesn't feel so great.

I am tired. Really, really tired. This is partly due to the fact that I don't sleep much lately. I have a very hard time just getting comfortable so falling asleep (or falling BACK asleep after I've gotten up in the night) is often difficult. Also, some nights, my skin gets really itchy. It's not everyday but I think when I have hormone spikes, it triggers the itchy skin. When it's bad, I am kept up most of the night due to all the scratching. In the last week or two, I usually feel the need to take a nap every afternoon...sometimes I am able to get one (and it's AWESOME when I do) , but sometimes it's hard to fit one in.

I do not have a pregnancy "glow". It's more like a pregnancy "sweat". I am noticeably warmer lately and Rey has even commented on it. He is usually the hot-natured one but in the last month or so, it's been ME who has wanted the temperature turned down or the fan turned on first. He has been loving it! Of course, it doesn't help things that I am at the end of my pregnancy during the hottest time of the year and I live in GA where the humidity level is sky-high. Our AC stopped working a couple weeks ago when the high outside was about 100 degrees and I thought I might have a breakdown. Thankfully, we were able to get it fixed the same day - crisis avoided!

Heartburn has become a constant thing for me...I get it everyday no matter what I eat. I try to keep the medicines I take to a minimum, so I often just deal with it until the evening and then I take something to get me through the night.

Probably the hardest thing for me has been the back pain and ligament pain I've had since the end of the second trimester. Ever since my belly really started to get big, it has really thrown everything else off. My lower back and hips are constantly sore and it makes it hard to do a lot of walking. Luckily, most of the time I ask for one, Rey will give me a back massage which helps me to relax a little. The ligament pain is on the underside of my belly and it causes this tightness and uncomfortable feeling particularly when I first stand up from a sitting or sleeping position. Also, I occasionally get what feels like bad menstrual cramps. The doctor tells me this is a good thing as it is my body just preparing for labor but it doesn't FEEL like a good thing when it's happening!

I know that things will not be easy when we first bring our baby girl home, but I am so ready to lose the pregnancy symptoms. And most of all I am really excited to meet her and see her for the first time. Everytime I think about holding her for the first time, it gets me teary-eyed. Rey and I have been looking forward to that moment for the last 9 months and we're hoping we won't have to wait too much longer! :-)

A big belly and a new stroller

I can't believe I'm posting this picture because I'm not feeling too pretty these days. My belly is super hard and unfortunately, we all know it's not muscle! I hit the 35 week mark yesterday and I look like I swallowed a basketball. Here it is for you all to see:

I'm pretty sure I actually felt Hadley's little toes in there the other day. I had my hand on my belly right up under my chest, and I felt a row of little bumps. Of course, at first I freaked out for a minute wondering what in the world was growing on my stomach, but after lifting my shirt and seeing that everything looked normal, I realized that it must have been my baby's toes!

Our new stroller arrived a few days ago and I know it sounds funny to be excited about a stroller, but this thing is so cool! It's so sleek-looking and it moves really well and it is just plain awesome if you ask me. Here is what it looks like with the normal stroller seat....and also with the adaptor that allows us to use our car seat while our baby's still too small for the regular seat.

Our lives they are a changin'

Everybody keeps telling me and Rey how much our lives are going to change once we have this baby....this video just might sum it up:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ql-N3F1FhW4

Is this what we are going to become? :-)

Baby's room

We've been working on Hadley's room trying to get it ready for her and here are some pics of our progress:

We're planning on putting up a picture (or pictures) under the shelf....we just haven't found the right ones yet. We got the glider chair last week and it is SOOO comfortable. I could definitely fall asleep in it!

We found this cute little clock recently and it matches the wall border so well! You can't see the detail from this photo, but it has butterflies and flowers on it.

Right on track

I had my 34 week doctor's visit today and all was well. :-) I'm measuring at 34 weeks so my baby is growing at a normal pace. The doctor estimated that she would be 7 to 7-1/2 lbs. at birth (assuming I make it to her due date). He also confirmed that she's in the head-down position. My blood pressure was a little elevated when I came in, but they took it again at the end of the appointment and it was back down to normal. Now that I'm getting toward the end of the pregnancy, I will start seeing the doctor once a week from now until the baby arrives. I'm still hoping she'll come a week or two early, but we'll see!

I purchased a bassinet yesterday b/c I was starting to get nervous that we didn't have anywhere for her to sleep yet. We've had the crib for quite awhile, but we still don't have the crib mattress. Most women I've talked to said they kept the baby in their bedrooms for the first few months since they had to get up for feedings so often so I figured a bassinet would be helpful.

It's baaaaack!

I had thought I was finally done with all of that sinus congestion from the 2nd trimester because it had pretty much gone away for about a month. BUT...now it's back with a vengeance! This week I've had to go back to my decongestant/nose spray routine. Major bummer! Basically, I think my pregnancy has caused me to be allergic to something - like maybe I'm more sensitive to dust or maybe to my cats. Whatever it is, I really can't wait to be rid of this!

I have also started to get less sleep due to being uncomfortable, getting heartburn, having to pee 2 to 3 times a night and waking up with a runny/stuffy nose. Each week that goes by, it gets harder for me to get up from a low seat or a deep cushion. And just rolling over in bed can be quite uncomfortable. This belly gets heavy!

At my doctor's visit last week I was told that I was measuring right on schedule so it doesn't look like my baby is growing too big or not enough. At my appointment next week I'll be 34 weeks so I want to be sure and find out if they think she's head-down and I'm also curious as to about how much she weighs so far. As of now, there's no reason to think I won't be able to have a vaginal delivery, so I'm hoping she doesn't get TOO big! :-)

Updates

I found out some interesting news recently...the doctor that I don't like at my OB's office is retiring! BUT....he's not leaving until August 31st - two weeks after my due date. Lucky me, he will still be around for the rest of my pregnancy and possibly for my delivery. I'm pretty much over it now since there isn't really anything I can do about it, and I realize it's not the end of the world if he delivers my baby but I am glad that he'll be gone after that.

We've checked one more thing off the list by selecting a Pediatrician's office for Hadley. They're located in the same building as my OB/GYN so it's pretty convenient. They are a pretty large practice...13 doctors on staff and I think they also have 3 RNs we can see as well. One thing I liked is that they have 10 nurses working in the triage area who are there to take all the phone calls they receive from worried parents about what to do with their children. So there's always someone to help me if I think Hadley's having a problem. I also like that they don't make you stick with one doctor. If I don't like one doctor, I can switch Hadley to a different one anytime. Or, if I really like a particular doctor, she can see the same one at each visit.

Shower #2

I had another baby shower this past weekend and it was another great one! This one was family, close family friends and ladies that my Mom is close with through church.

I got many great gifts but this one was probably the most creative:

My mom's friend, Kathy (who is almost like "Aunt Kathy" to me), made this really cute diaper cake and she stuck in some baby toys, hangers, socks and spoons and then wrapped the box with receiving blankets! Such a great idea!

My grandmom, Sara (Hadley's great-grandma) was able to come to shower which was really great...I was worried she might not make it, but I was so glad she did. And she surprised me by bringing some of the books that I used to read over and over at her house when I was growing up. I can't wait to read them to Hadley! I bet she will love them, too!

Wish I hadn't heard that...

I'm beginning to question whether I should have signed up for these childbirth classes we've been going to. At class last night, Bev, the nurse who teaches the class, was going over when to call the doctor when you think you might be in labor and then she started telling us when you should call the doctor after you've gone home after the birth of the baby. THAT was scary. She was talking about symptoms we could encounter with our breasts and also things that can happen down below. And she was very graphic! I think that talk made me more scared of having the baby than the actual fear of labor pains! I cannot even repeat some of the stuff she mentioned because it is just too disgusting to share on my blog.

Fortunately, we did eventually get off that topic and we learned some relaxation techniques and some exercises that are supposed to help us push when we're in labor. I think the class is helpful, but so far, it hasn't made me any less scared about having a baby!

1st Baby Shower

Saturday was my first baby shower and it was so wonderful! My friend, Sharon threw the shower for me and she did such a great job. Everything looked great and she had thought of some really cute ideas like giving packets of heather seeds as party favors (my daughter's name means "from the field of Heather") and having everyone email her with the title of their favorite children's book so she could purchase them as a gift. I got lots of great gifts and I'm thrilled to have such a good start to Hadley's library. All of my best girlfriends came to the shower, some of them traveling across several states to be there and I had the best time just seeing everyone and spending time with my girls. I'm so grateful to have all of these ladies in my life!