Still hanging out

Apparently this baby does not want to come out!

Despite being 4 cm and 70% effaced (as of last Thursday). There are still no signs of labor. Oh and the babys head has dropped and is engaged in my pelvis, but still nothing! I was shocked to hear my doctor tell me that she has patients walking around for weeks who are 5cm and 6cm dilated.

I have come to the realization that this baby isnt coming until Thursday. I am going to be induced Thursday morning, so we will be the proud parents of 2 by Thursday afternoon.

I have decided that with all the problems that we are having with Kaylee sleeping that the longer I can just have her to take care of at night the better.

So for now I am content with spending my last few days with her and enjoying all her new accomplishments (a list of those will come later).

Sensing Change

I realize that change is inevitable, especially when dealing with a fast growing toddler. Some of the changes we have been experiencing with Kaylee have been different than i had expected. Kaylee has recently started having trouble going to bed at night. When I say "trouble" I mean that she acts completely normal up until we put her in the crib and leave the room; she BURSTS out into a horrific sounding cry. She is fine up until that moment, she will even tell you she is tired and wants to go to bed!

The first night it happened I was completely caught off guard, I wondered if she might be sick or not feeling well. After about an hour of trying to get her to go down, I decided to let her get out of bed. She kept saying she was hungry, so I fed her more dinner. She ended up eating an entire plate of food, on top of the food she had just eaten for dinner. So we played for a little while and when I saw that she could barely keep her eyes open, it was time to go to bed. And this time she went down without a fuss, like she usually does. This little event got me thinking what could be the problem, but since it was a one-time occurrence i didn't think too much about it.

Then a few nights later the exact same thing happened. Except this time she wasn't hungry, she wouldn't eat anything. I was baffled! Why has she done this now twice in less than a week? And on top of it she had spent the night with her Aunt Ceire and had no problems going to bed over there.

Then it happened a 3rd time. By this point i figured that this obviously has something to do with me (and possibly Marcus). I really do think that she is sensing some changes in the house, and possibly herself too, and that is the reason for this unexpected onset of separation anxiety when it comes to sleeping. The 3rd time this happened I decided to deal with it a different way than usual, I surely don't want her in the habit of thinking she can cry and get to stay up late........oh the problems that will cause after I have the baby. I decided to just rub her back, like i used to do when she was little, then slowly stop rubbing, and just stand by her crib. If she lifts her head off the bed i tell her to lay back down. This process only took about 15 minutes to work before she was completely past out and I was able to leave the room. But then I think to myself, "great, now I have to be in there for her to fall asleep, that doesn't seem feasible when I have another child."

So last night she stayed at my moms house and went down fine over there. This is the second time she has slept there since we have been having these problems at home. Both times at moms house she went down fine, NO crying or waking up. And like I said before she went down fine at Aunt Ceire's as well.

And then tonight......she does it for me AGAIN! She goes into the bed without a fuss and the second I leave the room, she crys as if someone has chopped off her arm. I decided to use the same tactic as last time, actually she asked for it this time. Usually she says, "up, ups, mommy" and wants me to pick her up, but this time she said "back, mommy," and laid down for me to rub her back. So I did, and it worked again. It is like she just needs a little extra attention and knows that that attention is about to be divided between her and the baby.

I thought these sort of changes would come AFTER the baby was born, not before! But then again there are other changes that are going on with herself that could be the reason for the problem as well. She has all of a sudden taken an interest in her vocabulary, up until this point she has had little interest. She actually attempts to say words now instead of just saying "ga-ga" and laughing. She learns around 2-6 new words everyday! I remember from my college child development classes (and reading online) that when children learn to talk there minds don't necessarily stop at bedtime. So I am thinking that that could be another factor.

Anyone have any ideas or insight in this matter? Suggestions or comments are very much welcomed! I would like to have this sorted out before the sleep deprivation sets in from the new baby. Crista.....that means you too! Call me with your advice and suggestions.....PLEASE!

The vote is in.......

Looks like the majority of you voted that we will be welcoming a little boy into the world soon. I have to admit that I think I have changed my mind I'm thinking this just might be a boy now. It is safe to say that it will definitely be a surprise either way.

Recently, I have been asking Kaylee what she thinks the baby is going to be, I really don't think she understands the question but the majority of the time she says it is going to be a boy too. Sometimes I ask her if she wants a "brother" or a "sister" and she looks at me like I am crazy.

I have my bags packed for the hospital, infant seat in the car, and everything ready at home to welcome this little one. I can't believe any day now we will be a family of 4!

Patience

"Patience is a virtue, have them if you can. Seldom in a woman, but never in a man."

This is a quote that my mother in law uses often. When I tried researching its author I came across another version of this quote "Patience is a virtue. Possess it if you can! Found seldom in a woman, and NEVER in a man" author unknown

I never really thought too much about it until recently. I feel like every ounce of patience that I "DID" have is completely gone! I'm not saying that I had much to begin with, and I know Marcus would agree that I have very little patience because he tells me just about every day. But in the past week or so I have noticed a significant decrease in my level of patience; in all aspects of my life. I see myself more annoyed by things that don't even concern me, like other drivers on the road, or things I see on TV. But on a more personal level I see myself being annoyed by some of the things that Kaylee does (more so the things she doesn't do), and I am sure that I have been more impatient when it comes to Marcus as well. "Marcus feel free to keep your comments to yourself!"

After last nights "adventure" I realized that it is completely out of my control and I just need a little more patience. This baby will come when he/she is ready to come, not necessarily when I am ready for him/her. Because God knows I am READY for this baby to come! So I am going to try my hardest to muster up any remaining patience I have and try to relax for the rest of this pregnancy. I will probably end up enjoying the next few weeks instead of feeling so uncomfortable and miserable.

I'm not quite sure if my mother in law reads my blog, but if so then......
"I thank you for teaching me that quote, it is very meaningful to me in my present state and I am sure that it will help me through these last few weeks."

2nd False Alarm

Last week I thought that I might be going into labor. My contractions were regular at 12 minutes apart but not getting closer or stronger. Then after a couple of hours they just tapered off and then stopped.

Yesterday I felt kinda "off" most of the day with more intense contractions and pressure very sporadic throughout the late morning and early afternoon. I finally started timing them later in the evening and found I am having more than I thought. But once again not getting stronger or regular. This time they were between 5 and 8 minutes apart. I called the nurse and was instructed to wait it out until they became 5 minutes apart and were more intense.

Later in the evening they became more regular so we went to the hospital. After being monitored and examined, they found that I am still 3cm and not progressing yet, so it is deemed to be false labor. I am going in for an appointment today, hopefully, to see my doctor.

So more waiting........

I'll keep you all posted

Funny Coincidence

Last night a package was delivered to our front door during dinner. Mary, Kaylee, and me were sitting at the kitchen table enjoying our beef and broccoli when the door bell rang. Tahoe went crazy, barking, and charging at the door. Kaylee asks "was dat?" I go and see that UPS had just delivered the package I had been expecting. Kaylee asks again, "was dat, a-ma?" (that's her new name for grandma) Mary said "No, its not grandma." Then she went through every ones name asking if they were here, finally I said "Kaylee that was the UPS man." To which she responds "ups?" Mary and I died laughing. She loves saying the word "ups" she says it when she wants you to sit down, or when she wants you to pick her up, but this time she said it right on cue when I spelled UPS. It was quite funny. Kaylee joined in with us laughing, but had NO IDEA why we were laughing!

It's Almost "that" Time!!!

If you haven't already voted on the sex of this baby, time might just be running short!

I had my first "exam" check up today, and found that I am

3 FULL cm dilated and

50% effaced!

I knew that I had made SOME progress I just didn't think that I would be 3 cm already. I don't know why I am freaking out so bad cause I could walk around for weeks like this without making anymore progress. But I have been saying for some time now that this baby is coming early! And I still think that he might! My next appointment is next Wednesday I will keep you all posted, unless something happens before then (probably not, but you never know).........better go get the car seat down and my hospital bags packed.

Frozen Meals

I have never been good at eating frozen meals!


Before we had Kaylee I tried a new place in Collierville where you go and prep your meals and then bring them home to cook them. This place helped me deal with my frozen food phobia. And we thoroughly enjoyed the fabulous meals they had to offer. So a few months ago I decided that I would revisit this place to prepare more meals for when this baby is born, and I am not quite feeling up to cooking meals every night. So I got on their website to check out the meals they were offering and found that they had closed about 3 months prior. I was devastated! Now what would I do to enjoy healthy, delicious, easy to prepare meals? I decided that I would try my hand at preparing my own meals and freezing them. I started thinking about what i liked to eat after Kaylee was born, and all I could remember was that i wanted to eat ALL the time! Mrs. Julie, one of my aides from my teaching years at Holy Rosary, made us a perfect recipe. I decided that would be the first one that I would try to freeze. It is what I like to call "Chicken, corn, rice, cheesy soup." I decided to make the recipe once and eat it to see if Marcus and I still approved of it. And it was a huge hit, Marcus said half-way through his bowl that he could eat this more often, and Kaylee munched it right up too. So I gathered the ingredients necessary to make 2 more batches of which i made and froze today. I have also gathered a list of other "favorite" meals we have and am going to be making them the rest of this week. right now my list includes:

• beef pot pie (minus the crust, that we will make when we actually eat it)
• beef and broccoli
• the all time favorite, chicken pot pie (minus the crust)

and a few sides

• twice baked potatoes
• spaghetti squash

So i figure after I make and freeze all that we should be able to eat a delicious meal at least every other night for 2-3 weeks after the baby is born. If anyone has anymore ideas of great meals that are easy to freeze let me know.

My ranting continues

The trim guy actually showed up today, 2 1/2 hours late, but he showed up! That is about the extent of the good news. The bad news is, is that I counted the doors that got delivered earlier this week and found that we are 1 door short. Not knowing which doors were attic (aka insulated) I wasn't sure which one we were missing. So I told Marcus about it this morning, and he tried calling the door guy (the one we bought the boors from, not the installer). But he no longer works at that company, keep in mind he worked there just yesterday. So when the trim guys got to work, it quickly became one problem after the next. First they banged the ceiling on the way up the stairs, then the wall, then the real problems started. Let me just bullet point the rest in an effort to shorten this lengthy rant

• we now have a door we did not order at the top of the steps and is too small so it wont stay shut (but we decided we are going to keep the door and make the doorway narrower to accommodate the size difference)
• the doors we "thought" were attic doors are not insulated, they are regular interior doors
• we are missing one attic door, apparently it was never ordered
• the window trim wasn't delivered for one room
• one set of closet doors were 2 inches too short
• the other set of closet doors were 10 inches too short (how can you be off by as much as 10 inches?)
• AND to top it off our trim guy is going out of town all next week so work will not continue until the following week at the earliest!

So now after all that we still have 1 attic opening that is causing a problem with keeping our heat regulated, and the other 2 that he did go ahead and hang are not even insulated (but at least they are there to prevent some of the cold air from blowing). The trim is almost complete in the playroom, and they did a little bit in the hallway, i would say that part is about 1/3 of the way complete. So let me think, if they would have shown up on time today or better yet yesterday as planned all of these problems could have been taken care of, but NNOOOO, now we have to wait til Monday to reorder the things we need.

I know there are always "snags" in construction projects but I am so NOT in the mood for anymore with this project. I'm wondering if it will be completed by the time the baby arrives. Heck the stress from upstairs might just send me into labor.

I promise this is the last I will use my blog as a means for my venting!

By the way did you all notice that the baby in my pregnany counter has been head down, the real baby inside me has been head down causing problems now for about 2 months. This baby is so low in my pelvis that a lot of the time I have that pregnancy waddle going on, Marcus even makes fun of me every now and then about it. And i only have like 33 more days. I cant believe it is that close, I am getting really excited about meeting this little one! Oh and we are pretty sure we have both a boy and girl name picked out!

COME ON!!! (I just had to rant.....sorry)

Are all contractors the same?

We have been at a stand still when it comes to progress upstairs, I thought i was being really patient, but i have HAD ENOUGH!!!

We still have no window in the front of our house, it has been boarded up and covered with plastic now for probably about 6-8 weeks now. We still do not have attic doors, so we are throwing money out the window, literally, when it comes to our heating bill. The trim guy, AKA contractor, was supposed to come this morning at 10 am. As you can see it is now 12:30 and i have not seen or heard from him. What the heck? Cant he call and say he is late, or not coming? I WANT MY ATTIC DOORS INSTALLED!!! The trim and other interior doors would be nice too, but right now all i am asking, in fact begging, for are my attic doors. That's it just 3 measly doors, cant you just come out and install my 3 doors?

I actually feel better after getting that out, sorry to bore everyone.