Progress!

Well the evidence that there will soon be three people in our home continues to grow! Today we assembled the crib and rearranged the furniture in her room, and we assembled her bouncer. This converts to a toddler rocking chair (up to 40 lbs); so she should be able to use this for a few years. Tomorrow we are going to finish assembling the mobile, attach the contour changing pad to the dresser, and hang the letters of her name on the wall.

49 Days!!!

Well I'm 33 weeks today, which means her EDD is now less than 50 days away! Woohoo! I hope the next few weeks just fly by as I have to say I am VERY ready to hold Nadia in my arms!!! I am very glad to be on the Rx for the UTI. It's a case of "live and learn" just like in November when I went to school with the stomach flu because I thought it was morning sickness and so I thought I needed to just tough it out. I learned the difference between the stomach flu and morning sickness, and now I have learned that what I was just chalking up to pgcy symptoms were actually UTI symptoms. I am also learning to EAT whenever I don't feel that great and to try to eat protein or at least something low in sugar. Eating a hardboiled egg or peanut butter crackers for example definitely helps. I still haven't fully figured out how to keep my blood sugar level, but I am definitely eating more protein than I usually eat that's for sure! I also definitely haven't figured out how to keep my intestinal system regulated. Oh well...just a few more weeks!

I am glad to be back home from the conference. I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed for one thing! I am also very glad that my dad was able to come home from the hospital last night. They are waiting for the biopsy results to determine whether or not he will also need radiation. Hopefully he won't. We're also praying he'll have a smooth and speedy recovery!

PTL!

Well I am very happy to report that my dad's surgery went well. It took a little longer than expected (I think about 4 hours). Hopefully he will be released from the hospital this evening. Please keep praying for a smooth recovery. Thanks! I am also happy to report that class went well last night. I lasted the full 3 hours. I brought lots of snacks with me and kept eating throughout the class, and I sat almost the whole time. What a relief to have a good experience in contrast to my experiences last week. Whew... Now I won't be so nervous about class on Monday night. Well I must sign off as I need to leave for the conference at Penn State by 6:55am. Hope each of you has a great day! :-)

Father's Day gift

Yesterday I bought Paul his 2nd Father's Day card (I gave him one in 2005 when I was pg). I also bought a Giants hoodie on eBay yesterday for Nadia (size 6-12 months) as his Father's Day gift. I admit that part of me ONLY wants to deck her out in Steelers' stuff (when it comes to the NFL - I don't mind her wearing Duke NCAA stuff), but I figure that's not really fair since her Daddy is just as die hard of a Giants fan as her Mommy is a Pgh fan. So she now owns hoodies for both teams, LOL. Hopefully Paul will like this gift! :-)

I would also appreciate prayer that I will be able to teach all 3 hours tonight (without feeling like I am going to faint). I have been eating more protein in case that was the probem.

UTI

Well a nurse from the OB's office called me this afternoon to say that my last urine sample (given at my appt ELEVEN days ago) showed I have a UTI, and they were going tocalling in an RX of Macrobid (actually I was given the generic instead). First of all, I was surprised as I've had 2 UTI's before (first was in 2001), and I was in a LOT of pain with those. I know one symptom of a UTI is frequent urination, but I've been peeing a million times a day (and night) the whole pgcy and the other samples didn't show a UTI so I am surprised that I don't seem to have any symptoms. Second, I am upset with my OB's office that it took them 11 days to let me know!!! I think that's downright absurd and doesn't make me feel good about this office, but since I am so late in the pgcy I don't see the point of switching now. I am to take 1 capsule 2 times a day for 7 days. I also wonder if this had anything to do with why I felt so awful last week when teaching?? Well I hope the fact it went untreated for this long didn't have any effect on Nadia!!!

Nesting!

Well I think I have been "nesting" lately. :-) Saturday I took everything out of the linen closet and reorganized it. That day I also removed all the contents the shelf of the coffee table (it's a large one) and then after sorting through her book collection (in various locations at the moment) I put back only board books. The picture books and puzzles that had been there the last few months (for my niece and nephews) I moved elsewhere. I also removed most of my "stuff" that had been there. Once she becomes mobile I'll have to remove the last few things (my Bible, a book I am reading, etc.), but there are still a few months where I can enjoy easy access to my stuff while I'm on the couch before it needs to be totally baby proofed. I sorted through her board book collection and picked about 10-15 books to take to my office for when she's there along with a big (very soft) Steeler blanket that will work well to put on my office floor for her "tummy times" and a boppy for work (since I now own two I figure I'll keep one at work and one at home as I do plan to nurse her at work).

Today I organized the contents of the two bedroom closets by removing everything that isn't for Nadia from her closet (Christmas decorations, my wedding dress, etc. used to be stored in there) and moving the stuff that IS for her from the other bedroom closet. I also started opening some boxes of things - some of which I purchased over 3 years ago when we started pursuing adoption so I'd be ready for a last minute match. I took all the bottles and sippy cups etc to the kitchen and washed them in the dishwasher, and I put her bibs in one kitchen drawer (moved the cloth napkins that we use maybe once a year up to the linen closet to make room for the bibs which will be used frequently!). I also set up her hamper. It is GORGEOUS. I just love it!!! I also ironed the valence and stuffed it with tissue paper and hung it up. I also like it very much! Those are both from BRU's Gossamer Wings collection. I registered for a mix of butterfly items because some of the GW collection items are VERY expensive IMHO. So some things (mobile and lamp for example) I registered for were from another butterfly collection (that Walmart sells) that's far cheaper. Other items were comparable in price, and in many cases I thought the GW options were much more attractive (such as the wallpaper border and window valence). I registered for the sheer drapes from the GW collection, and that was my one splurge as far as an expensive item from that collection, but they are really pretty, and I couldn't find anything similar elsewhere, so I will use my gift card for BRU to buy them if no one buys them off the registry. It is SO much fun to be setting up her nursery that is for sure! I think this evening I will install the light switch and outlet covers also. I have to say the GW collection looks really nice in that room which has light purple walls and darker purple carpet. I'll take photos in the near future.

Paul has several things to assemble in the next few weeks. First will be the crib and then probably the bouncer (it came in a million pieces!). The high chair also came in a million pieces but she won't be needing that for a few months so there's no rush on that one. Hopefully we'll move before she needs her high chair. The contour changing pad also needs to be screwed to the back of the dresser. That will be a quick project.

Yesterday when we were going for our daily walk, we crossed paths with one of our neighbors. It was the first time we had chatted with her in a long time (years I think!). Anyhow she immediately recognized that I am pg. She was walking with her daugther and 3 month old grandaughter. I was glad to have someone who didn't know I was pg figure it out by looking at me after that comment I got last week that I didn't look pg. I want to look pg as otherwise I guess I just look fat, LOL!

Nadia Renee

Well the first thing I ordered for her once we picked her name hasn't come in yet (the letters to spell her first name on the wall), but since then she's received two other things with her name on them! Yvonne did the beautiful cross stitching that includes her name as well as the meaning of her name. All I need to do is add the month and day to her birthdate (the year is already done) and get it framed! It's going to look beautiful on her bedroom wall!! This work of art was my bday gift. :-) Then a clock came in today that I ordered on eBay that was designed to go with the Gossamer Wings collection. The outlet covers I ordered on eBay for her room came in yesterday. We figured out that the woman who made them used the wallpaper border (same kind I got at my shower) to cover the outlet covers and safety protectors so although those aren't officially made by Kids Line, they definitely match 100%!


I am getting even more anxious to set up her nursery!!! However we did make progress on that today as Joe helped Paul carry up the crib box from the dining room to the nursery, switch the nightstands and dressers from one bedroom to the other, and move the bed from the purple bedroom to the blue bedroom where now we have bunk beds. We'll wait one more week before we actually assemble the crib and such. I can't wait! We also then need to go shopping for a rocking chair (Christmas present from my parents) as I definitely want to have one at home before she's born!
Since my sisters can't attend one of my baby showers (since they'll be in Chicago and Turkey), I received the gift from them yesterday that they would have given me at a shower if they could have come. It's a really nice playgym! I am sure she'll get a lot of good use out of it. I've had quite a few games for adults in my house for years (Taboo, Guesstures, Boggle, etc.), but now we are just beginning to have a few toys for infants. I am sure that collection will grow a lot in the next year! Right now she definitely has FAR, FAR more books than toys which frankly doesn't bother me, LOL!

Paul got summoned again for jury duty. His excused absence from a couple of weeks ago turned into just a postponement. Now he's supposed to report July 15, three days before my EDD. Hmmmm.....

Amusement Park!

Yesterday I hit the 32 week mark! That means as of today her EDD is 7 weeks (plus 6 days) away!!! My day began at 7:15 when my niece, Jenna, woke up. I had a wonderful day playing with my niece and nephews, chatting with my parents, sister and bil, and of course going to Knoebels! We paid $20 total for two four-hour handstamps for Jenna and Drew (and actually they were valid for 4 1/2 hours). My parents were up here from 9am to 6pm on Friday. Yvonne and her family were here from 11 pm on Thursday night until 1pm on Saturday. We had a great time. Probably we won't see them again for about one year so we wanted to make the most of our time together! Yvonne is also pg (due the end of November) so there were will be 5 children age 6 and under the next time our two families get together.

Rough Night

Well I thought I had a plan in place so that I would feel fine at the end of class last night. I brought a snack, two bottles of water, and planned to sit most of the time. My plan didn't work. In fact I felt much worse. On Monday night I made it 2 1/2 hours before I started to feel awful, and I was able to go about 20 more minutes that night and let them go at 7:50. Last night I felt like I was very close to passing out much sooner in the class period. I tried sitting on the floor in the hallway while they were working on a group assignment (it was cooler out there). Then I tried teaching a little more, but the room was spinning on me. The students were telling me that I had lost all color from my face and looked like I was going to faint. I said everyone gets a 5 minute break, and I put my head down. A few students brought food up to me, I ate some animal crackers (gave one student his chocolate bar back although it was very sweet of him to offer it to me). It helped a little but not too much. I felt very weak, dizzy, and nauseous and mostly felt like if I kept talking I would pass out. I knew I'd have to let them out early, but I still had a goal in mind as to how much I wanted to cover before I let them out. I couldn't make it though. I finally just gave up and told them I would have to let them out early as I wasn't up to teaching another minute. Of course I am sure they didn't mind being let out early. :-) They were very concerned though and offering to take me home. I said I'd call my hubby, and some offered to stay with me until he came and others offered me their cell phones so I could call him from class. I thanked them but said I'd be okay. I was just going to sit there a few minutes until I felt well enough to go up to my office and call Paul.

Someone must have told the professor teaching in the room next to me as then he came in with one of his students (whom I had in class last semester). He insisted on me using his cell phone to call Paul so I did, and he insisted that Oceanna would stay with me until Paul arrived. After calling Paul and asking him to come get me (I didn't feel it would be safe for me to drive), I went up and called the ER to speak with the OB on call (that's what we're supposed to do when the OB's office is closed). She said that if I actually fainted or my heart was racing that I needed to come in, but otherwise she said I should just go home, prop my feet up, and eat some protein. She guessed that the possible causes of how I was feeling were either my blood sugar was too low (she felt my dinner was too high in sugar as I had a PB sandwich on rye bread, apple, and granola bar), the baby was in a position where she was lying on an artery or something that would make me feel faint, I was dehydrated, or I am still anemic. I can rule out the dehydration as from how often I have to pee (and I always check the color) I really don't think that was the problem. That dinner was a very common one for me on a day when I am eating dinner in my office prior to teaching a night class, but maybe that was the problem?

As for the anemia, I did learn something in my conversation with the OB. She asked me how often I was taking the iron and also asked if I was making sure not to take it with dairy products. What?!?! Neither the OB nurse or the hematologist nurse had told me this! She said it cancels it out. I've been taking my morning iron pill with a yogurt. So last night Paul made me a toasted cheese sandwich and I waited an hour before taking my evening iron pill. Normally I've been taking my evening iron pill 2-4 hours after dinner so I think that pill has been absorbed, but I guess the morning ones have been a waste.

Well I feel fine this morning, thankfully. We're going to go pick up my car this morning before Paul heads to school. It's not exactly "on his way," but we don't want to leave my car there any longer than necessary. I really felt confident that I would feel fine in class last night. I didn't swell up -that was one improvement, but I'd take swelling over feeling like I'm just about to pass out any day of the week! The good news is that there are only 9 more nights of class. The next class isn't until next Wed as we have off on Monday for Memorial Day. The topics we are covering that night are challenging for the students (validity, reliability, etc.) so I really need to feel up to teaching a full 3 hours that night. I had no problem teaching 3 hours a day in the spring semester. I guess that was about 4 weeks ago as we had a week off for "reading days" and then final exams for a week and then last week we had the break in between semesters.

This evening (after I am in bed), my sister and her family will be arriving at our house. Tomorrow my parents will also arrive so we can all go to Knoebels amusement park together. According to the forecast the weather is supposed to be great tomorrow so I hope that is correct! I am really looking forward to this time with my niece and nephews especially as likely I won't see them again for another year or so.

I can't believe it

I will be 32w pg on Friday, and I am still getting comments from some folks that I "don't look pg." Unbelievable! I am carrying around a 4 lb. baby and still don't look pg?!?!? Yesterday I was chatting with a lady prior to the mtg who asked me what I was doing this summer, and I was telling her I was teaching now but was taking July and August off. She asked me why, and I said because I am having a baby in July and her jaw dropped. She looked at me and said, "You look great; you don't even look pg!" I think she meant it as a compliment. I told her I had gained a little over 20 lbs so far, and she said she gained 45 with her first pgcy and 50 with her second. Oh well, if I am still not looking obviously pg at 32 weeks I don't think I ever will! I was wearing a maternity top no less. The upside is that so far I don't have any stretch marks (although that might be from using the almond oil twice a day), and my belly button hasn't popped out yet either.

I am sooo anxious to set up her nursery. I think since my bil, Joe, will be here in a couple of days that I am going to ask him to help Paul do some rearranging. I want to switch the dresser that's in the blue/yellow room with the one in the purple room as it's of the height it could be used as a changing table whereas the one in the purple bedroom is very tall. Also I figure he can help Paul carry the crib box upstairs, and we can still wait another week to actually assemble it (just in case we get an offer on the house in the next week). It seems to me we won't be moving until after she's born since our house hasn't even been shown the last 3 1/2 weeks. It's a great time to be a buyer, but not a good time to be a seller. I have purchased two more items on eBay that are handmade to match the Gossamer Wings collection - a clock personalized with her name and 4 outlet covers. We received a matching light switch cover (Kidsline does make those) at the shower. I wish we could just move into the house we like in June. Then she'd have a pink bedroom, but we really don't want to own two homes. So I think she'll be starting off in the purple bedroom. I will not use the wallpaper border in this room, but I can use everything else!