Blessed Are We

Wow. I am amazed sometimes at the generosity of the people around us. Our friends and family are incredible. They have enabled us to be incredibly prepared for Pumpkin's arrival at an extremely low cost to us. But, the gifts are not even the most amazing part. The most amazing thing of all is the joy you can see on their faces as they bless us with things for our little girl. I think they are just as happy to give us things as we are to receive them, if not more so. It is wonderful to be surrounded by the people that we are lucky enough to be surrounded by.

My big baby shower was this past Saturday and it was incredible. My step mom, B & L did a fantastic job. The decorations were so cute - a jungle theme to match the theme in the nursery. The food was delicious as was the cake made by my sister. The games were a lot of fun, my favorite was the blindfolded diaper changing contest. But best of all was the company - I was so touched by how many people came and just how much fun we all had. Everybody got along, my mom and step mom, my grandmother and my mom, everyone seemed to just have a great time. And all the comments I've heard from people is how much fun it was and what a nice shower it was. I couldn't have asked for anything more. It was perfect.

And the mountain of gifts! Hubby and I couldn't believe it. L's Land Rover was full - she left the back seats out and the entire back of it was stuffed all the way up to the front seats with gifts. Unbelievable!

We are so incredibly blessed. Blessed to be having this baby, blessed to have each other, blessed to have so many amazing friends and family members. Blessed to have a God that cares so much for us to bless us in the countless ways that He does. The kindness and generosity of those around us just really pounded that point home this weekend.

Good, good, good and even more good

Well we had our follow up ultrasound yesterday and the placenta has moved! 3 cm away from the cervical opening which they are happy with and so am I. This means that I do not automatically have to get a c-section. Yay! We had a good report all around yesterday, good levels of amniotic fluid, good heartbeat, my blood pressure was good, my iron was good, my weight gain was good. Good, good, good.

So, all good here. Tonight we're going to have dinner with my inlaws, but this isn't just any old dinner with the inlaws, tonight we get to meet my brother in law's girlfriend. They are very serious about each other and are "evaluating" each other for marriage. I know that probably sounds weird to most of you, but from a Christian standpoint, a person should not just date to date. You should date with the idea in mind that the ultimate goal is to get married. This is why lots of Christians will get to really know a person, spend a lot of time with them as friends in group settings before deciding to begin dating. If you've done that, at least you have a good idea about whether or not you might want to marry them. My brother in law and potential future sister in law have really gotten to know each other well. They both feel that the other person meets their basic "qualifications" for a spouse and as such are dating seriously at the moment with the express purpose of deciding on whether or not they want to get married. So tonight is a big deal! I'm very excited about meeting her.

In other news, tomorrow is my big baby shower! I'm very excited and am really looking forward to it. The fact that I'm almost completely in the dark about the whole thing makes it that much more exciting. The only details I have been privy to are the date, time, and location and the invitation list. I know about a few people that are definitely coming but that's it. For the most part I do not know who has RSVP'd to come and who has not. So almost everything will be a big surprise for me. I am really looking forward to it and am hoping it is a ton of fun.

And, if all this is not good enough, Monday is a holiday so I have a three day weekend this weekend! Plenty of time to play with everything we get at the shower tomorrow. :)

Alive and Well

We are all still alive. Me, Pumpkin and both dogs are still breathing and appear to be quite healthy, despite my best (unwitting) attempts to make us all sick with moldy bread. Pumpkin was active all day yesterday and the dogs were just fine. I also am feeling fine.

I think Pumpkin may have turned yesterday - she has been laying transverse with her head on my left side and her butt on my right (per our glorious OB) which has been making my ever more futile attempts at sleep even more futile. When I tried to lay on my right side, I could feel her butt and it was quite uncomfortable and even painful some nights. Kind of like trying to sleep with a softball placed just so under your ribs. Add to this the fact that my left hip is getting really tired of carrying all the weight all the time (I start to get bad pains in it if I lay on that side for too long) and you've got a frustrated, tired, cranky pregnant woman furiously tossing and turning all night long trying to get some relief. And never really getting any. So Anyway, I think my girl has turned. I started to get lots of bladder pressure again yesterday, which I haven't had since she turned from breech to transverse, and I was able to lay on my right side last night comfortably. I've also been getting movement way down low which I also haven't had since she was breech. So I'm not positive, and I haven't quite figured out if she's breech or head-down, but I don't think she's transverse anymore.

So, just to console me, probably, we're having cookies and ice cream at work today. Perhaps you recall that today is supposed to be my baby shower here, but it has been reschedule because Mr. BigWig is coming over. In order to make up for this, goodies and treats are being provided. Now, they're saying that the reason is to congratulate us on a job well done in regards to March of Dimes fundraising, but I see right through all that. I am just too clever for them! Can't fool me!

Slight FREAK OUT This Morning

So I am innocently standing in the kitchen this morning, doing as I do most workday mornings, making a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for lunch. I am using the last two pieces of bread in the loaf, except for the end pieces, one of which I rip into pieces for the dogs. Boy, I'm feeling generous and so kind this morning. Taking the time to give the dogs a little extra treat. So as I begin to spread the jelly on the bread I notice the bread is all moldy on the bottom! CRAP! This is the same loaf that I made my sandwich from yesterday and the rest of the week. OH NO. This means I probably ate moldy bread yesterday and did not even notice. Oh, and just fed moldy bread to both dogs, as well.

So, for like the first five minutes I managed to stay calm. I repeated things to myself like, Pumpkin was active all night (and how do I know she was active all night, you ask? because I got hardly any sleep. will fill in below) and I don't feel sick. I'm sure it's no big deal. I feel fine. I'm sure the placenta wouldn't let it pass to her, anyway.

Then, at about the six minute mark, I begin to FREAK OUT. Start thinking horrible thoughts about how I cannot lose this baby so far along. I cannot be that woman. I just cannot. What am I going to do if something should happen to Pumpkin? I begin to convince myself that the bread mold will mean an end to all things happy. I cry all the way to work. I tried to call the dr's office and leave a voicemail for the nurse, but they weren't open yet. So more crying and pleading and praying that everything is okay.

Before I left the house, Hubby felt bad, as I was all teary, and asked could he do anything. I told him to go through all the preggy books and see if he can find anything about eating moldy bread. He called me as I was finishing my drive to work to inform me that none of the books said anything about it which was probably a really good sign. This enabled me to stop crying before I entered the building. Once at my desk, I posted to my fav. board, Fertility Friend (seriously, this board rocks. it's a charting site & has VIP stuff like the boards you can pay for. maybe I'll write a post on how awesome it is one day.), and to Yahoo Answers asking if I should be worried. All the posts I got back said I ought not to worry. So did the nurse at the dr's office once I got through this morning.

So, freak out has officially ended. But, man, do I feel emotionally drained now. Of course the fact that I tossed and turned all night trying to find some semblance of a comfortable position (and failing miserably in my endeavor) probably is not helping. My eyes hurt and are all red and puffy. I look like a whole lot of crap today. Oh well. At least the Pumpkin is in there doing her thing - moving and grooving. And the moldy bread should have no effect on her or me. I just hope the dogs are okay. I'm making Hubby go home for lunch to check on them. I'm sure they're fine, though. Don't dogs eat all kinds of ucky and gross and unhealthy things outside all the time?

Surely it's not me you're calling cranky

So last night we had one of my brother in laws and his wife over for dinner. It was a lovely evening, hubby made his delicious and family famous lasagna. Yum, it's my favorite thing that hubby cooks. And he really is a wonderful cook. Which is a good thing since that is not my strong point. Anyway, I digress. So BIL and his wife were over for dinner last night. As I said, it was a lovely evening. They brought their new puppy and our dogs had a blast playing with him out in the yard. But, man, by 8:00 I was beat! And this was after working only a half day yesterday and sleeping all morning. I'm really starting to feel tired all the time again lately, almost as bad as the first trimester. Not qutie, I can keep myself out of bed in the afternoons if I so choose, and I have to because of my iron pill (can't lay down for 30 mins. after taking it and I take it as soon as I get home because you also have to have 2 hours since the last time you ate and 1 hour before the next time you eat. what.a.pain), but man, it is sure tempting to just climb on in bed for a nap everyday.

I think the tiredness is contributing to my rising levels of crankiness. I am not nearly as pleasant of a person as I used to be. My patience supplies are running dangerously close to empty and my tolerance of other people is at an all time low. Thank goodness there is only about a month left at work for me, because I don't know how much longer I can last without getting in trouble for yelling at somebody or being a total brat. I'm starting to count down the days until I get to quit, not because my job is so terrible, more just because I am tired of having to come in everyday when all I really want to do is lay at home in my bed all morning and then sit in the baby's room all afternoon.

Oh, and another thing. I don't know who the president and CEO of my comapny thinks he is, but because of him, my baby shower at work has had to be rescheduled. My department was the number one March of Dimes team this year for our company - we raised the most money out of all the departments (and we're a huge company with 8 hospitals in FL) - almost 12,000.00! Anyway, because of this we're getting all kinds of special little parties and what not, and apparently Mr. BigWig is coming to congratulate us on Friday. Well - did nobody inform him that my baby shower is then? At the very same time he is coming over? I mean, I realize his schedule may be a *bit* fuller than mine, but couldn't he have come over at some other time? Whatever. So it's been rescheduled to sometime in June. Dangerously close to when I'm leaving. But I guess this way they figure I'll stick it out till mid June like I'm trying to. I bet this is all some conspiratorial plot to keep me here as close to fiscal year end (June 30th) as possible and the president and CEO is totally in on it. Because, of course, I am the most important employee we have and I have the most direct and substantial influence on the amount of money our company makes. And Mr. BigWig is well aware of that. Well, now that I think about it like that, maybe I'm not so pissed off afterall...

Surprise, surprise!

Morning! Surprise surprise, it's me again - and so soon! Bet you didn't really think I'd be keeping my end of the bargain and updating again so soon, huh, my doubting, dear, non-existent readers?

Well, the news around here is that there is a nursery in my home! Or rather, a baby room might be the better way of putting it. There will be no specially painted walls, or anything fancy like that. But, there is a dresser/changer, a crib on its way, a glider, and an armoire stocked with baby stuff. It's not that I don't like seeing pictures of everyone else's expertly decorated nurseries - it's just that I'm sort of a plain jane when it comes to things ilke that. So we've got the furniture in there (sans crib - it's on it's way soon) and some nice little things to hang on the walls and my step mom will be making some cute curtains.

I feel much more settled and prepared. I had been a bit worried that if Pumpkin decided to show up early I would be totally unprepared, but not so anymore. And even though the crib hasn't made it to my house yet, we do have the bassinet she'll be sleeping in at first, so we're on the way to being ready for her. Not quite ready, but getting there.

I had a lovely little mother's day - hubby got me some flowers and made me a very sweet card. I also got a little gift from my mother in law - it was a combo graduation/mother's day gift and is lovely. Lots of fun, good smelling things from the spa. We visited with my grandmother, then my mother, and then had hubby's brother and mother over for dinner. It was quite the weekend, and I am pooped! I need a weekend from my weekend...

More Of The Same

More apologies, my dear, non-existent readers. I know I've been away for far too long. But you see, I do have a good excuse. I was finishing up school, and working full time, and oh yea, making a baby the whole time too! Busy, busy was I. But, school is done (finally! and I graduated! with my bachelors! with all A's this last semester!) and so now it is back to just working and making a human being. Both of which are important, but since school is out, I do have quite a bit more free time.

So, long story short, I am back with an update for you, my dear, non-existent readers. Pumpkin is doing really well. We are still waiting to find out the current location of my uppity placenta that does not seem to want to cooperate with me. We have another ultrasound on the 24th to see just what is going on in there - they will then decide if I have to have a c-section. My baby shower at work is next Friday and my shower outside of work is on the 26th. We are amassing a great and towering collection of baby hand me downs - courtesy of good friends and my sister. Seriously - this kid isn't going to need clothes for at least a couple of years. We are really blessed to have so many generous people around us. Hubby and I are working on the nursery finally - it is going to be where the office has been - so I had to wait until I finished school. Now that I'm done with all that studying and junk we have begun the process of turning it into a nursery. It's so much fun to finally be getting ready for her arrival!

So, that's about all that is new with me. One of our good friends, we'll call him C, just found out his wife is preggie again. Their baby is only 7 months old! Geez! But, he says they were trying so we're happy for them. That is WAY sooner than I would try for another baby, but hey, whatever floats your boat I guess. I'm glad I'm preggie right now since we got this news. I can imagine how I would have felt had things been different - me with no living baby and them with # 2 already on the way. But, my bitterness about such things has started to fade mostly. Not completely - not sure why it still lingers? - but mostly. Anyway, Hubby and C have been friends since elementary school I think - forever, really - and we lived with him for a few years in college. It's kinda hard to imagine how much we've all started to grow up in the last few years. Getting married, having kids, buying homes. It just makes us seem so old!

Anyway, my dear, non-existent readers, I will try to be better at communication from now on. Please forgive me my absence and I will forgive you for not existing. Deal?