The Birth Story

Here are the nitty gritty details for those who are interested. If you aren't...stop reading now...don't say I didn't warn you! It wasn't horrible and traumatic or anything but I tend to just lay it all out there so be forewarned :)

So. I had been having contractions that were stronger than the braxton hicks I had with Griff for about a month and false labor off and on for a couple of weeks. I was a week past my due date and just ready to meet this little princess. I'm pretty sure I was getting crankier by the day just because the pain/frustration/sleeplessness/hormones were getting out of hand.

Mom and I had tried EVERYTHING to get this labor started but I'm pretty sure all of those methods are crapola. Actually now, in lieu of everything I see that God had 4/5 planned a looooong time ago but I'll get to that later.

The week before I had my membranes swept twice which just increased my contractions but didn't do anything else but make me feel crappy. After they did it on Friday I lost my mucous plug which I thought meant labor was gonna happen over the weekend, alas, it did not. So when I went for my 41 week appointment I figured I'd let them do it again anyway because there was a chance it could work. We discussed inducing on Monday the 11th because they like to wait until 42 weeks and I like the date 4/11/11.



Right after that the midwife said she was 2 for 2 on membrane sweepages and said she had lucky fingers. I said then go for it, lady! When she was done...and I have to say it was pretty painful...she left the room and I noticed that my water broke. Cheers of joy! I opened the door and told a nurse and my other favorite midwife came in to tell me what to do. She said to go home and wait until the contractions got to the point that I felt like I needed to come in and if they didn't by midnight then they would start a little pitocin.

Funny story here: Right when my water broke, I grabbed my phone to call Andrew and noticed that he had just texted me the following, "Just got a flat tire." I texted back, "Cool, my water just broke." I finished getting dressed and called my mom who had my car (I had been dropped off) and she said that my dad had my car at an urgent care hospital because he was sick and they were keeping him to get a CAT scan because they thought he might have diverticulitis (luckily he didn't!). So, meanwhile I just chill in the lobby hoping that I'm not leaking all over the place while I wait for Andrew to change his tire and come get me. Pretty funny that we had all been just sitting around for 2 weeks waiting for baby and at the ultimate most inconvenient time she said, "Aaaaaand NOW!" Funny little girl. I was too excited to feel any stress though.

The contractions started getting more painful pretty much as soon as my water broke at 3:20PM but not bad enough to stay at the hospital. When Andrew picked me up we went home to feed Griffin and get him to the neighbors. Another thing is that Shelly has been ready to take care of Griff when I had Elliot the entire pregnancy. I thought she was leaving April 9th for TN but she called on the 4th to tell me she was on her way to the airport. I got the dates wrong and she left the day before she was born :( sad. But luckily we have AWESOME neighbors that we could call and Griff has stayed with them before so he had a slumber party with their 4 year old twins.

After he left I tried to eat some dinner and just watch TV for a while and finish packing, etc. The contractions started getting longer and more painful though and I was worried that it would happen fast and did NOT want to have her at home. That is so not my thing. So we called the midwife and headed to the hospital around 7 ish. By the time we were in the car they were hurting pretty bad and luckily they got me into a room fairly quickly.

It was a really laid back experience (except for my screaming and thrashing around) compared to Griff's birth. The midwife didn't want me to get an IV so they just monitored my contractions and her heartbeat for 20 or 30 minutes when I got into the room then took the monitors off. When I got to the room they were less than 2 minutes apart. After they were done with that I decided to get into the jacuzzi tub in the bathroom which felt a lot more relaxing. It didn't take too long for the contractions to get even stronger and closer together. I had my trusty Ipod and gripped the bar in the tub for a while but was feeling a lot more pressure so she checked me and I was 7. I labored in the tub for a while longer and realized at one point that the pressure was getting a lot stronger so they decided to get me in the bed. The contraction between the tub and the bed has to be my least favorite by a long shot but I'm glad I got to be in there for a little bit.

Once I got to the bed I was a 9 and just wanted it to be over so bad. The midwife said it looked like I liked to grab on to stuff so she lowered both bed rails and I grabbed those suckers and am pretty sure I scared anybody within earshot but totallly didn't care at the time. At some point I thought I may just lose it if I didn't push that girl out so I said I needed to push. I think I was waiting for someone to tell me to push like they did with Griffin but the midwife was apparently waiting for me because she said to just do what I felt. So, I started pushing. No concept of time here but I know it didn't take too long.

I was a lot more alert at this point than I was with Griff. I was in labor longer and on Pitocin with him so I was totally loopy by the time I pushed him out and honestly don't remember the pain of that very much at all. I just remember thinking I was too tired to get him out. With Elliot it felt like someone took a machete to my vajayjay (sorry if you haven't had a baby yet and this is scaring you, just trying to be honest). I just wanted to have her in my arms and not in my whoha. So with a lot of grunting and yelling and saying that I just didn't think this was going to work out...she came out! They put her on my chest and was forgotten...until the stitches started but that's another story :)

She was born at 9:23PM on 4/5/2011 weighing in at 9 pounds 1 ounce and 21 inches. BEAUTIFUL dark hair and yummy rolls. I'm totally in love and Andrew is wrapped around her miniature finger. We are so thankful.

Seriously though I have never been so happy to meet someone in my life except when Griff was born. You know they are there and you feel them moving and see the ultrasounds but to see them in the flesh is just too amazing. We are so incredibly blessed, I just can't believe it.

She has been nursing good (a little scare about dehydration the first couple of days because apparently she was ready for real milk before I could provide it but we're doing good now), she sleeps a gazillion times better than Griff  did during his first year and a half. I'm in awe at how easy she is. I'm so lucky and she is only 3 days old so I know that could change but I just don't care. If she doesn't sleep for 18 years I won't care but it is a nice surprise that she actually will sleep in her crib. I couldn't get Griff to do that for 4 months. They are so different but I couldn't love 2 little people so much if I tried.

The part about this that is just such a God thing (not that it all isn't because of God) is that I had a dream on Monday night that we got our approval from Rwanda, so I woke up Tuesday and checked my email and it wasn't there but then I ended up having Elliot so I figured that was what my dream was about. This morning I was nursing her at 5AM and it took me a while to get her awake enough to nurse (crazy because every 2 hours like clockwork Griff screamed bloody murder until I gave him a booby). I had her on a boob and opened my email and saw that we got our approval from Rwanda! We have been waiting a year and a half to see that email. Our dossier has been there right under a year. I had to read it several times to be sure that I wasn't dreaming. The date on the scanned letter was 4/5/2011...Elliot's birthday. I picked up my nursing baby and went back to the bedroom and woke up Andrew and told him. Must have been quite the sight seeing his frazzled wife with a little girl attached to one boob and the other one hanging out because I forgot to close my tank top shaking him awake telling him that not only does he have a 3 day old but he has one to two more coming in 3-5 months. Deer in headlights. Not really, we have both been praying and waiting and hoping for all of these kids long enough to not care if it happens all at once. I'll be honest, there is a tad bit of stress with all we have to do in the next couple of months in between 2 hour feedings BUT I'm so on it. Bring it on and let me see that baby/those babies!

Next step-apply for Elliot's passport as soon as we get her birth certificate in the mail!

Wow. LONGEST BLOG POST OF ALL TIME! I'll reinstate the whole cookie thing if you survived reading this.

She's Here!

Birth story to come later...but here is a tidbit...without the screaming and gnashing of teeth.

41 Weeks

Today I'm 41 weeks pregnant. She must be little because the child has a party in my tummy every evening and she can move. She may be a back up dancer or something if she ever comes out.

I'm glad she moves a lot because 1. I would be paranoid if she didn't and 2. That must mean she is a petite 6-7 pounder, right??

I go in this afternoon for another ultrasound, non-stress test and membrane torture.

Maybe that'll be enough to kick these contractions into high gear!

One Word: Ouch

Seriously? I mean as much fun as it is to wait even longer to see her face...and to go in every 3 days for tests and membrane sweepage (that is just not fun)....I'm thinking a pink cuddly baby would be way more enjoyable.

I feel like my body is about 100 years old. Time to evict!

We're off to Pike Place Market since dad hasn't been before...maybe some of those mini doughnuts will make her come out...

Pre-partum Depression

 I am turning in to that girl.

Sorry to those around me.

I am disliking any person with a penis other than Griffin, Andrew, and my dad.

A man in starbuck's the other day...mere minutes after getting my membranes swept told me I'd better be getting decaf. I  must have been giving him a look because he immediately said, "I'm kidding...I was kidding..." I almost said, "I have been drinking freaking decaf for over 3 years. What is your problem?" Luckily I bit my tongue.

I am so ready to meet her. I hate to be so impatient but seriously people with April due dates are snuggling with their kiddos right now and I'm totally jealous.

I am sleeping like 15 minutes a night. Which is what I expected to be doing in April...except I expected to not be sleeping because I was nursing sweet Elliot...not because my rib cage was on fire and my rock hard uterus was still contracting. I think I have the strongest uterus on Earth. You could bounce a coin off of it...try...I dare ya.

Anyway, I'm still thankful to be pregnant but I'm just a bit over it and ready to move on to phase baby. I feel pressure in all the wrong ways. Not pressure to push so much as pressure to get this child born so that mom and dad who flew across the country to meet her can actually meet her.

My body didn't want to get pregnant...and now it doesn't want to not be pregnant. What's the deal? Make up your mind, body!

Ok. I'm done whining. I hate to be a whiner but since this blog is private and like 2 people read it I feel like I will annoy the fewest amount of people. Say a prayer for those living in my house right now. I'm getting bitchier by the minute!!

April Fool's...probably not...

I was hoping she would be born today bc it's April Fool's Day...alas...it is 6:15 and my contractions are fairly mild. Got about 6 more hours but probably not likely. Tomorrow is my birthday but I'm kind of hoping she isn't born then because I want her to have her own birthday but I'm not gonna stop her if she starts coming!

I had my non stress test, ultrasound and another membrane sweepage this morning. The tests were perfect and she is doing great in there! The midwife went to town on my membranes which hurt but hopefully will do the trick!

I asked her what was causing the rib cage pain because I just like to know stuff like that. I figured it was normal but wasn't sure exactly what it was. Little missy is pushing it out of place apparently. It makes perfect sense. Now if she could just come out so I could get straightened out it would be a great birthday present for mama :)

Andrew, mom and Griff came in for the ultrasound appointment. I've been promising them all an Elliot for so long that I figured I'd at least let them catch a glimpse of her cuteness. The tech switched it to 4D for us and I am so in love! I didn't think it would be a very clear picture at 40wks3days but it is and I just can't wait to meet her!

She looks pudgy but it could just be that she is totally out of room and all squished up in there.

Here is one I took with my phone...probably not the best quality but it works.

It looks like she has some full lips...no idea where those came from...

Griff pointed to the pictures and said, "Elliot!" When she printed out about 5 he said, "Lots of Elliots!"

Hoping for the real thing really soon!

Copy Kat

I stole this from my sis in law's blog (Jenny). I'm currently hiding from my crazy house because every time I move I get contractions that are really annoying and I'm not in the mood. Griff has crazy play time where we play fetch with Henry in the basement and I'm the middle man. I think it's safe to say I'm not in the mood.  So, instead of that I'm doing this :)

How Far Along: 40 weeks and 2 days

Size of baby: No clue. Griff was born 9 days early and was 8#5oz....she is currently 2 days late. Mama's scared! Just kidding, I have a feeling she will be 7#7oz.

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I've gained 25 pounds...and losing...my appetite is gone due to lack of space!

Maternity Clothes: No, I got a few oversized shirts from H&M and have been wearing them with some black stretchy pants I had. I hate buying maternity clothes!

Gender: Girl-Elliot Coco

Movement: A ton, she's like an alien moving around in there...which leads me to believe she will be smaller than Griff

Sleep: Heck to the No

What I miss: running...I stopped a few weeks ago and the Seattle marathon is less than 3 months away! She is not respecting my race schedule!

Cravings: As of this week....Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds. YUM!

Symptoms: Lots of rib and back pain, a million contractions every day, heartburn that my Rx Zantac ain't touchin' anymore.

Best Moment this week: I'm over 40 weeks pregnant. The best moment (hopefully) this week will be meeting my daughter!

April Baby?

Not lookin' good for March for this chitlin. After I got my membranes swept yesterday I had crampy contractions every 2-6 minutes all day until right before I went to bed. I almost called the midwife to go in to the hospital but wanted to finish grading some papers. They were getting pretty painful and were every 2.5 minutes. Then...they started getting less intense and further apart. Foiled again!

I think April Fool's Day would be appropriate since she's been foolin' me for a month :)

I felt like crapola all night last night but not from the contractions...just overall crappy....I hope that is a sign that tomorrow is her birthday!!

I wanna see her face!!

I just figured it out...she is holding out for the diamond birth stone. She is a smart little diva! Also, there is a spa in Lynnwood that is free on your birthday....it's lovingly called the Naked Spa because it's kind of like the Turkish Bath I did in Turkey where you get in hot and cold pools and get rubbed down and can walk around nekked without judgement. If she isn't born by the second I'm totally going. Maybe the hot/cold will "smoke her out" (hehe, Anne..). It won't be pretty for the other patrons but that's the deal. Done.

Fashionably Late

Little missy has apparently decided to be late to the party. Little stinker!

I had my 40 week and 1 day appointment today and I'm 3 cm dilated which is better than nothing...these contractions are doing something! Yay!

Apparently she is still high...my burning rib cage coulda told ya that.

The midwife stripped my membranes so I'm hoping that kicks labor into full gear and doesn't just make me crampy. So far...I'm just crampy.

I've been having contractions since 5:30 this morning but obviously they are just annoying and uncomfortable or I would be in L&D right now instead of sitting on my couch blogging :)

Here's the eviction plan:

Stripped the membranes today and hopefully I will just go in to labor in the next 12 hours or so.

If not, I have an appointment on Friday for a non-stress test and ultrasound to make sure she is doing okay in there. I'll probably have them strip my membranes again after all that just for good measure.

Then we wait and if she still isn't here by April 12 we will call out the big guns and induce.

They didn't seem to think I would make it until the 12th but you never know! I would feel so bad for Bella being here OVER A MONTH but I gotta be honest....it's been super nice having her to hang out with/help take care of crazy Griff.  Dad is flying in on the 1st so I'm hoping she is here by then because he doesn't have as long to visit as Bella does!

Fingers crossed!

D-Day

Today is Miss Elliot's due date...and she's missin' her own party! Fashionably late. She's gonna be cool like that.

I was SO ANXIOUS about her coming and when I woke up this morning at 4 with nothing but the braxton-hicks contractions I was sad that she still wasn't here. I'm uncomfortable but the main reasons I was stressed about this was
1. My mom has been in town since the 17th and I feel personally responsible that she is having to stay so long with nary a baby in sight. She doesn't mind and we have had fun with Griffin but I still feel pressure to perform :)

2. The adoption. Weird, I know but our agency had told us that they wanted a 9 month gap from when she was born and when we bring home our kid(s) from Rwanda. Every day she didn't come was adding to that wait list that has already been so long and I didn't realize until today that it was the main cause of my stress.

We talked to our case worker from Gladney today and she had spent the past couple of weeks in Africa so she told us all about that and then told us something that made me want to drive to Dallas and kiss her. They no longer are making us wait the 9 months! Whenever the ministry give us an approval and referral we can accept and travel and be done with the adoption! I'm so relieved I don't care if Elliot waits another 2 weeks to join us. Except for the fact that I want to see/kiss her face so bad it hurts.

It may be the first time our pediatrician gets the question, "Now how long do we need to wait before taking her to Africa for about 5 weeks?" during her hospital checkup...but....such is life. I'm so excited that we don't have to add another wrench into this adoption that I could dance...if I could physically move enough to do anything that looked like dancing...

They are also not changing our age request so we could get 1-2 siblings for Griff and Elliot between the ages of 6 months and 2...may be artificial twinning which we originally wanted to avoid but at this point with the way things have been in Rwanda we don't want to do anything to change the adoption so we will just deat with the potential problems if and when they occur. I've never turned down a challenge so bring it!

I'm posting this on this blob because it's private. I'm gonna have to make Inside Kat's Head private too because of the recent adoption changes and the fact that we are no longer going to inform Rwanda when Elliot is born. SO, if you want an email to get a password for that blog just email me at katarrack@gmail.com and I will send it to you. Grazie!

No baby on the due date but good future baby news so I'm one happy huge woman!

Psyche!

I got my second 'let's induce labor ' foot massage (that was AMAZING) with mom again yesterday. I was hoping the one last Saturday would be the last one....not that I don't like the pampering...but a baby would be so much better! We live within 2 miles of at least 2 little cheapo massage places and I'm really hoping I don't end up there again next Saturday! I told Andrew that every Saturday that I'm not snuggling Elliot I'm hittin' it up.

Anyway, we got them at 3 and I started getting stronger contractions during the massage. We went on a couple of errands then went home and Andrew and I took up mom's offer of going on (hopefully) one last date before Miss Elliot got here and went to dinner. When we got there we started timing the contractions because they were starting to hurt. They were 2-3 minutes apart the whole dinner and getting more and more painful but I was trying to not get my hopes up since this uterus has burned me before.

We decided to go home after dinner and figure out if we should call the midwife, etc. I did just to see what she thought and she recommended getting into a hot bath to see if they stayed strong or got lighter.

Of course they got lighter and started tapering. I kept having pretty uncomfortable ones until we went to bed around 11 but they weren't as frequent and I was able to actually sleep. SO....long story short. False labor. Glad I didn't go in to L&D. However, now I see myself delivering in a car since my uterus is crying wolf. I may not believe labor when it comes for real!

I go back to the midwife on Wednesday so we shall see what she says! Andrew and I were talking about how we just want to see her little face so bad! I just want to see her and know that she is healthy and start learning her little personality.

Compared to this pregnancy and the adoption, Griff wins the award of easiest child to get into our arms!

Lovey!

Bella has been in town for a week now. While I LOVE hanging out with my mom...I feel bad because she didn't necessarily come to just chill with me forever...she came for a baby!

It gave her time to make Elliot a cute little lovey though! I LOVE it!!! I told E that she has to come out to snuggle with it....I ain't puttin' it in there for her!

See how cute??

Isn't it cute?? I want to see her snuggle with it! Like....tonight!

PS-we went to Panera for lunch after the Children's Museum today and some guy behind us in line for drinks said, "Ask the pregnant girl." No idea what he was talking about but other than the fact that my patience to see her ran out a good while ago and now I'm sick with some weird congestion/throat thing...I gave him a totally involuntary death look as if to say, "Be VERY careful what you say to this pregnant girl." and he looked scared...and didn't ask me anything. Well played, big mama. Ask Andrew...I'm not in the mood, people!

Teaser!

I totally thought I would get to meet Elliot today. She is such a tease! I get so excited and then....nada!

I was really cramping with my contractions yesterday and just felt off all day. When we went to bed I had a huge contraction that made me totally think labor was coming and I was so ready.....and that was it. Just one. I've never been so disappointed to fall asleep instead of writhe in pain all night. Does that make me a freak?

Maybe next time!

My sister said she is loving Elliot's spunkiness already...the little stinker :) I hope she is spunky but the only way to find out is for her to come on out and play!

I put her carseat in the car....maybe she is a safety girl and wants to make sure her affairs are in order before she comes out. Fingers crossed!

March 30?

She did it again!

I'm thinking she is trying to send a message...maybe she will be born on 3-30. That's her cousin's birthday so maybe she wants to be cute like that.

I had my 39 week appointment yesterday and when the midwife walked in she said, "Oh no! You look like you're about to cry!" and handed me about 3 tissues. I wasn't about to cry. I guess the bloodshot eyes and stuffy nose threw her off. I told her I just don't sleep much (hence the blog post at 4am). And she went about her business. I wonder if a lot of women cry at their 39 week appointment...

Her business was pretty much telling me her head was still high as Mars and she wasn't ready to come yet. SO I made my 40 week appointment for March 30. Which is after my due date. Which almost made me go back for those tissues. Not really. But, I am just so ready to meet her!

Therefore I'm re-doing our hall closet into a nook/faux mudroom thingie. Why? Because I'm crazy. Mom and Andrew just look at my huge self like I'm crazy as I stand on a chair to paint. Don't judge! It must be done!

I also think Andrew is getting the brunt of my frustrations. I realize she won't stay in there forever but I'm just so impatient! We have been ready for her for over 2 years and my patience is just gone. I was hurting a lot right before bed last night and poor Andrew touched me as I was brushing my teeth and I'm ashamed to admit that I totally snapped at him not to touch me. I'm becoming that woman! Help!

3:30

This child is a jokester.

Third morning in a row that contractions woke me up at exactly 3:30.

And she is still very much not born.

At least this morning I was too exhausted to stay awake between the faux contractions. I feel refreshed!

So.

In honor of her still hiding from her mama, I'm re-doing our hall closet. That was my rule. I think I'm officially done with the gym till after she is born. I went on Monday and it felt like A.my pelvic bone would crack in half or B. I was going to pass out from low blood pressure or hunger or both. So...Y...see ya in a few weeks! I think...unless I break down and go just to try to induce labor...hmm.

Now mom and I are just gonna hang out and wait to meet the little girlie.

Last night at the dinner table, Griffin was like a standup comedian. He had us all in stitches the whole time. One of his acts was saying, "I want Elliot Coco up and out!" While making motions that he was holding a baby. He said it over and over....so fun!

Bellies!

Just for kicks I thought I would compare my huge Griffy belly and my huge Elliot belly. The Elliot shot was taken after the point that Griff was born but pretty close. I think I took the one with Griff right before he was born.

Here is the G-belly:

And the E-belly:

WOW..
.#1-I look deformed in both
#2-Elliot is WAY lower
#3-They both love my right side which is why the right side of my back is killin' just like it did with Griff
#4-It looks like I have had my belly button surgically moved
#5-I apparently am a creature of habit with the hair band on my left wrist.

39 Weeks

And nowhere to go....

Woke up again at 3:30 with contractions...but....nothing significant and all it did was keep me up so I watched a little tube and laid on the couch getting up to eat a snack every once in a while. Would rather be breastfeeding!

Griff was born by now and he was an 8 pound 5 ouncer so I'm hoping Miss Elliot is more on the petite side because each day she just gets chunkier! And the place where she is coming out ain't gettin' any bigger... I keep picturing her as a nice little 6 or 7 pounder though. Mom said I was 7 pounds 7 ounces which is what I've been telling Andrew I think E will be...perfect numbers! However I was 3 weeks early so I probably woulda been a chunk if I'd been born on my due date.

So... since mom and I didn't make any plans today with the hopes that we would be staring at a cute little baby girl...we are trying to figure out what to do.

Exciting activities on the horizon include dropping a box of stuff off at Good Will...I'm so totally nesting right now that I could probably find more stuff to get rid of in each room of the house if I wasn't so sleepy.

And if we get really crazy we might make the curtains in the nursery a little more girly :)

Luckily Griff woke up in an excellent mood and has been keeping us entertained this morning. Now if I could just give him his 'baby sista' he would be even more cheerful!

I have my appointment tomorrow at 2 so I may be begging to get my membranes swept or something to get these contractions to move along from annoying to painful. I've never wanted pain so much in my life. I sound like a crazy person.

Come on, Elliot!!!

Hmmm

I'm getting a tad frustrated.

And decided to blog.

Shocker. So I have woken up every night for the past several days with contractions that go nowhere. Had one at 3:45 this morning and they are just so sporadic that I'm pretty sure she is just messing with me again. I wish they would get into some kind of rhythm because I'm way past ready to meet  this little girl.

She was crazy active after I woke up that I couldn't really get back to sleep so thank goodness I have a job that I can do in my PJs on the couch at 4 in the morning with tiny feet kicking my stomach.

Every time they wake me up I get so excited that she is going to be born and then they just either taper or go nowhere. With Griff, it was a lot easier because my water broke which was a dead giveaway that I would most likely meet him within 24 hours. This little chicky has me guessing all the time.

On Saturday I was almost positive that she would make her appearance because I woke up at 5 with contractions that just got stronger and more painful throughout the day. Mom and I got an hour long foot massage that really got them going..and then...around 10pm they went away. No fairsies.

I'm trying to not get frustrated because seriously chances are good that she will be here this week and that is so exciting and I'm so insanely blessed. Buuuuuut if she could just quit teasing me that would be lovely.

3/21/2011 would be a great day to be born, right? Elliot....right? Bueller....

Super Moon!!

I had appointment number 2 for the week today (can't wait to be done with the PRE natal and on to the POST natal appointments!) and the midwife was not a fan of my lab work. She kept talking about how my kidneys were involved and she was worried (always fun to hear). She asked is I had problems when I was pregnant with Griffin (no) and if it was the same father (how am I supposed to know?) Kidding...I'm pretty sure Andrew is the father of both my children :) She just sent me home and said she would call after she talked to the doc. Still waiting but hopefully they'll just let me do my thing till she decides to come. It's the biggest full moon in 18 years tomorrow night so I'm turning superstitious and decided that she will come then :)

Therefore Andrew and I are taking our anniversary date tonight thanks to Bella...the last one got postponed due to Griff being pitiful and sickly.

Also little Missy Elliot has decided to go from having her back on my left side...to her back on my right side...to her back to my back which makes her facing the completely wrong way. All in a matter of a week. Every way but the right way the little stinker.

I wasn't too worried about it until we had dinner with our neighbors last night. They have six kids. She said that her daughter was facing that way and she labored for 2 days. 2 DAYS! And when she came out she broke her tailbone. Sounds fun. Let me put that on my list of things not to tell a person 38 weeks pregnant with a posterior baby :) She still has time to flip around hopefully. Marathon training with a broken tailbone does sound enticing though....

Parasympatheti-ouch!

This pregnancy has been pretty different than Griff's. Similar but definite differences.

Thanks to my friend, Anne...who is a super duper smarty pants, I have some idea as to why.

Apparently it's mostly linked to my parasympathetic nervous system. Lots of small ligament pain goin' on...those cramps in my booty are still happening all the time, and lots of nerve issues in my back and legs. Weird! I wouldn't have put it all together but apparently it's all linked. That could also be why she was breech and why she is posterior now. Interesting. I love learning new things about how our bodies work and how thinks are connected.

Just hoping she gets positioned correctly. Not sure if it will make a difference or not but the midwife seems like she isn't a fan of the posterior babies. From what I have read sometimes it makes the labor/delivery more difficult and sometimes they turn during labor and it's no big deal. From everything else during this pregnancy that seemed to be wrong but turned out to be no big deal, I'm not too worried about it. I'm mentally preparing for a longer labor just in case.

During my 38 week appointment there wasn't any protein in my urine and my BP was good so I think we're good to go! They drew blood again just for fun...because it's such a blast to do that for seemingly no reason. Griff kept saying, "I wanna baby!" while they were drawing it again...no clue why he links the two but it cracks me up.

I wanna meet her!!! Mom gets in tomorrow night at 9:40. YAY!!! Then Elliot can just go ahead and make her appearance! I keep thinking she is going to be early but now that we've almost made it to when mom is here I'm thinking she might throw us through a loop and come late. I sure hope not though!

I think that's all I have to ramble about right now. Just getting impatient! 13 days to go!

Contract....Relax.....Rinse....Repeat

I am having constant contractions. Which would be good except when I went to the doc on Wed. I wasn't dilated at all so I'm assuming they are doing nothing but making me feel tired and sick. BUT it is making me even more excited to meet my daughter SOON!!! I CANT WAIT!

I did the 24 hour urine collection and the midwife called me and said that I did have protein in my urine so they are keeping a close watch on my BP to make sure I don't get preeclamptic. I had a Beth Moore conference in Tacoma this weekend with some fun girls from church and had to stop by the hospital on the way to get it checked. Thankfully it was normal so I was able to go on the trip.

Technically the midwife told me to go home and put my feet up and relax....

However...I opted to go to the conference and volunteer in the bookstore for several hours. I love Beth Moore. What can I say? We got into the conference free and got the employee discount at the bookstore....how can you say no??  I had some major contractions on Friday and was feeling a bit weird so I was more than a little concerned that my water would break while in the hotel bed with Shelly and I would have to wake someone up t so that I could get back to Seattle but luckily once I laid down for a bit they got less intense and I woke up feeling peachy!

I'm still having them but they aren't painful which leads me to believe they are just my uterus having fun with me and mean nothing about when I might actually go into labor.

One of my good friends, Lauren, is staying with us this weekend and it's her first time in Seattle so I was also concerned that I wouldn't be able to show her around but it looks like we are a GO!

Tomorrow we are visiting Mars Hill church because she is a Mark Driscoll fan, then heading to Pike Place and all the fun Seattle sight-seeing adventures. After she leaves on Monday I promise to relax...which is so easy to do with a 2 year old. Let me tell ya :)

I can't wait to meet Elliot! I feel like as soon as my mom gets to town on Thursday I'm gonna do all the self induction things that allegedly work but who knows. Raspberry tea....bouncing on a yoga ball....amongst other more fun things...

We'll see if Andrew is right about her coming on the 18th! Fingers crossed!

37 Week Troublemaker

This child is already more of a troublemaker than Griff was when I was pregnant with him. We have been so blessed because despite extra stress she is so far still healthy and I have reached full term and I am absolutely not complaining because we are so so so lucky...yet...she still stresses me out a bit :)

(Woa Nelly!!)

We had the whole taking a long time to get pregnant thing....then the whole kidney thing...then the breech thing. And now they think I may have pre-eclampsia. My blood pressure always measures low and today it was high and I had protein in my urine. Even if I do, it really isn't that big of a deal because she is full term. If I was earlier in my pregnancy I would have reason to worry. Yet I still worry for some reason. I have been having mad braxton hicks since my appointment so even if I'm telling myself I'm not stressed...I think it's obvious that I am a bit. 

Anyway, they just drew more blood and are having me collect my urine for 24 hours (YUM!). Don't drink the juice out of the orange jug in our house! And can I just add that collecting every drop of urine for 24 hours when you have a full term baby in your belly ain't no picnic...wondering how that will go during the wee hours of the night when I stumble to the bathroom in a half sleep multiple times. This could get interesting :)

This is Griffin asking to play with my urine jug....{I want up he'ya!} He sounds like he's from Boston when he says "here" and sounds like he's from the deep south when he says "hill" {He'el}. Eh. What're ya gonna do?

And this is Griffin devastated that I wouldn't let him.

This kid cracks me up. I gave my regular urine sample at the doctor's office and he saw the cup and said, "Mommy's apple juice!!" Not quite, my friend. Also when I got undressed from the shirt down because they actually checked to see if I was dilated (all these contractions and....nothin!) he decided to fall and bump his head so when the midwife walked in I was leaning over helping him get back up...full moon, lady! And the third thing he did that cracked me up was when I was getting my blood drawn. He was sitting in his stroller and kept saying, "I want a baby. I want a baby." Hehe, oh boy, your mama sure does too, little guy.

She is also posterior...I suspected that and the midwife confirmed it today. Boo. I've heard that means longer labors and a longer time pushing. If they have to induce me and she is still posterior....Rob Thomas may have to personally come serenade me because the Ipod may not cut it this time. We shall see!

Also, as a side note, when getting blood drawn and 37 weeks pregnant, EAT FOOD before going on a play date. I nearly passed out. Not good. I'm fed now and all is right with the world.

If he goes down for a nap today I may occupy my time by cleaning or just sitting here timing these contractions for fun. Decisions, decisions....

Baby Showers and Braxton Hicks

Shelly and Tina threw Elliot a baby shower on Sunday and it was just perfect! We met at a restaurant after church (well..it would have been after church but Andrew and I took Griff to the ER instead because he was feeling really sick...poor baby). There were a lot of fun girls there and it was nice to hang out (and actually get to eat in a restaurant without Griff trying to escape the high chair and run rampant around the place).

PS-my camera battery died mid-shower so I'll have to get more pics from Shelly who thought ahead and prepared for such a thing...thanks Shelly!!

How cute are the Owl Cake Pops that Shelly and Shelby made..by hand...like not purchased from a bakery like I woulda done?? LOVE! Also love the picture below.....teehee.

We made it a book shower (thanks to Anne for that idea!) since I feel like I have everything I need for the little cutie patootie thanks to my sister who is lending me a GAZILLION cute baby girl outfits and the fact that I went gender neutral on everything for the Griff.

Elliot got a ton of very fun books and mama is excited because I have been reading the same ones over and over to Griffo for a while. Time for some fresh meat!

She also got some fun pink blankies/clothes/bath stuff which is always fun and precious to look at.

I'm so grateful to have such good friends and such a great church family after only living here a year. Elliot has a great group of friends waiting for her!

On a pregnancy note. These BH contractions are messing with my head! I had a lot with Griffin so I figured I would have even more with her but they are making me so ready to have her in my arms! On Saturday I had them every 2-3 minutes. All. Day. Long. I thought she might make her appearance this weekend in a tiny corner of my mind but knew deep down that she would probably make me wait a few more weeks. Obviously she is still in there cookin'.

Since Griffin was so sick I'm glad she didn't come this weekend. I would hate to be away from him when he was feeling so bad. Also, mom is coming on the 18th and might put her in time out for coming before then :)

I also am starting to teach 2 new classes today...could be a bad decision to do so right before she is born but mo' money is not a bad thing right now...especially with new changes to the adoption process from Rwanda which inevitably means about an additional $1000-$6000. YIKES!

I'm so ready to meet her though! The round ligaments pain is getting annoying when I "sleep" at night and Andrew might get sick of me having dreams that I'm married to Johnny Depp...just sayin'...oh yes I did :)

Epidural Schmepidural

I'm starting to think little nugget could be here at any time since I'm a few days from full term. This probably means she is messing with me and will be fashionably late but I like to be prepared anyway. I'm totally not interested in an epi so I'm working on a new playlist with songs I think I'll like to listen to for a distraction from the pain.

Problem: my ipod is dead and our charger is broken.

Andrew's job is to fix this....very soon....

He may regret putting this off.

In other news we have a little baby sprinkle this Sunday after church that should be a lot of fun. I'm also going to Tacoma on the 11th with some girls from church for a Beth Moore conference...hope she doesn't decide to come then...that could get interesting...

I'm just rambling. I'm trying to get all of my Hague training for the adoption done this week and it numbs my brain every night.

Signing off!

36 Week Appointment

I had my 36 week appointment today....and....it was uneventful.

I thought they would check to see if I was starting to dilate...but they didn't. Boo. I was all ready to get felt up by Sachiko and everything.

Weight/BP/heartbeat/measurements are all just fine and dandy though and her head is still down and ready to go!

I had my Group B strep test which was weird because they had me give it to myself. If you have ever had one...the OB probably did it. However, I guess here they are all about being hands on. Maybe they'll have me catch Elliot on the way out too. We shall see!

I got some prescription Zantac this week for my heartburn and It. Is. Amazing! Such a huge difference. No longer puking at night and my esophagus doesn't feel like it's on fire anymore. Love that stuff.

Griff had a hard time going to sleep the other night. Like ready to party at 11pm. So I crawled in bed with him and felt the acid rising. So I took half a Zantac. I still felt like I was about to narf all over my child. So I took another half. Still felt like I was about to have to run to the porcelain thrown for the GAZILLIONTH time during this pregnancy so I topped it off with 2 Tums and was good to go. Until midnight when I had one of my acid in the throat coughing fits which occurs nightly. I started coughing and when I was done I looked to see if Griff had drifted off to sleep and right when I looked at him he was rolling off the bed. I think my coughing startled him. So I grabbed him and pulled him to the middle of the bed and made my getaway. Ready for this heartburn to be GONE and a cute little girl with lots of hair to be HERE.

9 Months!

Let the countdown begin!

28 days left till D-Day! I am ready to meet her NOW. Mom wants her to wait until at least the 18th since she flies in on the 17th. Dad wants her to be born on my birthday (4-2) so that he can be here....that may very well give my back permanent damage so, sorry dad but I'm hoping she's not born that late :)

I read that movements usually decrease at 36 weeks....this little monkey must be like me because she's like, "Oh yeah! I'll show them!" This morning when I got up with Mr. stay up till midnight and wake up at 6, she literally used my ribs as a jungle gym and my bladder as a trampoline and went to town for about 5 minutes. I even think I heard a tiny little, "Take that, 36 weeks!" arise out of my belly button. She's fiesty!

Anyway, I have my appointment tomorrow and we'll do the strep B check, cervical exam and all that jazz. I'm hoping to hear about some dilation but I think mom and dad are not :) I would love for all of the grandparents to be here....but....my back says otherwise.

Here are some oh so flattering pictures of my 9 month belly: {thick with sarcasm} But I do love it. Part of me will really miss being pregnant but I just CANNOT wait to see her and cuddle and kiss and nurse her!

 Baby Elliot needs to brush her teeth apparently...

 Andrew wanted enthusiasm

 Griffin is wondering why mama is exploding

 This  is Andrew's non-existent belly. He has lost about how much I have gained....well...not that much but he's lookin good!

Griff wanted his "pitture" so he ran to where we were standing and grabbed his belly....little cutie. He had a checkup for the adoption yesterday and when I put him on the exam table he laid down and lifted up his shirt to bare his belly....I think he has been to one too many midwife appointments. I think he was disappointed that we didn't put some gel on there and hear a heartbeat :)

 This is our countdown on the chalkboard in the kitchen....can't wait!

We raised her mattress up (we being Andrew) and Griffin added some finishing touches...newborns like to play with lawnmowers and vacuum cleaners, right? Looks like I'll be washing that sheet...again....

I'll update on the appointment tomorrow! Time to meet some friends for breakfast in Seattle! Hoping Griffin will sit still long enough for me to get a sentence or two in :)

35 Days to go!

Well...hopefully less but my due date is 35 days away! Woohoo!! Can't wait to meet this little girl!

I've been having more and stronger contractions lately so that gives me hope that she'll come before March 29 but who knows....only time will tell! I've been keeping Tums in business too so it will be nice to get rid of the heartburn but I'm more excited to see her than to get rid of symptoms. I could care less if I have every symptom in the book, it is TOTALLY worth it to have this little bambina.

Weird things that go on with my body...I've noticed that if I don't work out during the day, I wake up in the night with butt cramps. You read that right. Weird.

Interesting 'adopting while you're pregnant' scenario...I wake up in the middle of the night a lot to use the bathroom or because I'm hurting and need to reposition but then I can't fall back asleep because then I start to worry/stress about adoption stuff. Hmm...one day I will have Elliot, Griffin, and our kid(s) from Rwanda in my grasp and I will sit down with them all in my lap and not let them go for like 18 hours until somebody makes me. Just sayin'. I have my 36 week appointment next week so we will see if I'm dilating or anything exciting like that! Woohoo!

Things you do for love.

I love my husband.

My husband wanted me to do the Truffle Shuffle in front of the Goonies house in Astoria, OR...with my big ol' 8.5 month baby belly.

In front of other people.

So. I did.

It wasn't pretty.

Cocked and Ready to Go!

I had my 34 week appointment today....and...drumroll please...Elliot has decided to get her head down where it's supposed to be and is ready for take-off! So excited! I love the idea of not knowing when she is going to come. Woohoo for that!

y dang weight has been all over the place with this pregnancy...I gained like 5 pounds between my last 2 appointments and today found out that since then I have lost 2 pounds...how does that happen? No friggin' clue. But as long as they don't care and little missy is still doing good it doesn't really matter.

She gets the hiccups when she gets startled I've noticed. Once on Valentine's day....and we'll just leave it at that. And then this morning when the alarm went off and was loud she jumped and then had the hiccups for a while. SO CUTE!

Contractions are really random right now. Just coming and going depending on the day. When I run I have them all day pretty consistently but when I do the elliptical they aren't as bad. I cleaned the house yesterday and vacuuming and mopping gave me some good ones...so...I guess Andrew will have to do that from now on :) I kid, I kid.

So, now we just hang out and grow until our 36 week appointment. They are pretty big on the birth plan here. I didn't plan on writing one up because labor and delivery are so random that you never know what you're gonna get. My only thing is that I don't want an epidural and I want a healthy baby. However, they gave me an outline to fill out with my likes/dislikes/issues/worries/etc. so I figured why not fill it out. I really want to be sarcastic and make it so that when they read it they think I'm crazy until they realize that it's a joke but then again not sure if that would be a good idea...

1. Please be sure to rub my hand and look me in the eye whenever you tell me how dilated I am.
2. I would like to eat a cheeseburger 5 minutes prior to pushing.
3. Somebody please french braid my hair when I hit 9cm so that I look pretty in pictures.
4. Throw ice chips in my general direction every 10 minutes to see if I can catch them in my mouth.
5. Flirt with my husband to distract him from his wife pooping on the table.

There. Done.

Not much else to update! Can't wait to meet my little scared hiccuper!

5K PR

Not me....Elliot. She ran her first 5K this morning and totally rocked it! Her mom...not so much.

I did have to have a potty break...but other than that we ran the whole time which was shocking to me because I didn't think I had it in me. The competitiveness took over.

My dear husband decided to document it...it was 0.2 miles into the race...

It was fun! And it was a race where you dress up (well...we did anyway) so of course we took advantage.

Shelly and I rocked some tutus and then got creative with some lipstick in my purse...I'm not the skinny one with a six pack..

 Oh yes we did...."Easy" and "Easier"...even though I think the one with 4 kids should have the latter...just my opinion. ;)

Andrew got there earlier than us and ran 6 miles, then the 5K with us...he's hard core. We had to run about a mile from our car to the start because we were late so I wasn't sure I would hold up for the actual race but it was just too fun to pass people with my huge belly.

We also ran into Tara from church!

Pretty sure this is our last race before her birthday...maybe...

Owee

Ok...I think it's safe to say I'm actually NOT looking forward to going to the chiropractor tonight. What?! Usually it's such a treat but apparently not while pregnant. I am not looking forward to the headache or the pain afterward and it feels like the vertebrae in my lower back are being held together by very thin thread right now. Not feeling much stability which is weird and annoying. Must be the hormones making them loose already combined with the chiro. BUT if it helps her get her cute little head down in the right direction...I'll take it! Just an observation. I'm sure after the Seattle marathon when I'm all jacked up and not pregnant I'll be back at the chiro with bells on!

Don't hurt me tonight, Dr.! I've got a date with my man and he thinks if he buys me dinner....uh...well....I "owe" hiim. Kidding! Kind of. Also I have the Love 'em or Leave 'em 5K in the morning with Shelly! It's the anniversary of the first time we hung out last year and totally hit it off. Memories! We are totally dressing up this year too...I'm thinking of painting a large heart on my huge belly. That's right, I have absolutely no shame.

Little Hiccups

Love!

After hanging out with our night owl for the 3rd night in a row, I finally got him to bed around 12:30 on Friday night. What's the dealio-yo? Anyway, Elliot had been SUPER active all day. For example, I was sitting on the couch working a little bit and she shifted her weight so much that it threw my whole body off balance. She's a little tornado! Well, I finally laid down in the bed and she had some major hiccups for the first time that I could feel. SUPER CUTE! I loved feeling that. Griff had them a lot toward the end and I remember sitting at my desk at work not being able to do much because I just liked how cute the little hiccups are.

I tried to wake Andrew up to feel them but he was totally out. Maybe next time :)

I started going to a chiropractor to try to get this little nugget's head down on Friday and am so sore but it felt so good...well hurt so good I guess. I am a huge fan of getting adjusted, especially when my body feels so stiff and old already. Ahhh..bliss.

We will see if it works!

I also had a gazillion braxton-hicks contractions yesterday. Seriously they were like every 10 minutes all day long until I fell asleep. Makes me happy because I hope that means less contractions during labor :) Right? No? Hmm...oh well. It was kind of tiring though. We took the G man to "Play Mouse" AKA Chuck E Cheese to play and by the time we finished and were standing in line to trade in his tickets for some toy snakes (what else?) I felt like I had been doing sit-ups all day and was just ready to lay down. Too bad that doesn't equal a post-birth six pack...

That's all I've got for an update right now. Just the hiccups and contractions. Getting so close to meeting our little girl! I am so in love already!!

3 chiropractor appointments and a 5K next week! Hopefully that'll be enough to get that head down!

CRAZY Dream. Seriously. Crazy.

{Disclaimer:No idea who this kid is. Found the picture on Google images}

Last night I slept really well for a change. Usually I'm moving all over the place and getting up to go to the bathroom and all that jazz. I was sacked yesterday because I worked on the house for G's nap NONSTOP and was wired all day for some reason. So, anyway....

~~~~
~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~
{Those are the Wayne's World dream waves}

So, I was at some outdoor event/concert/thing with a girl that I honestly haven't seen since high school. Weird.

At some point I go in to labor and have Elliot.

However. She is an alligator. AN ALLIGATOR! People, what is wrong with me. It was so vivid and I was so upset. I was asking if I had to breastfeed her. Not because I was worried about breastfeeding an alligator with razor sharp teeth...which would be the first concern of normal crazy people. No, I was wondering because since she turned out to be a reptile, I wanted to start trying again right away to get pregnant with a real baby. I was worried that the breastfeeding would keep my hormones out of wack like last time and it would take me forever to get pregnant and I am getting quite impatient.

I was like, how do I explain this one?! An alligator! Do alligators fly free on airplanes?? How did they not catch this on the level 2 ultrasound?!

Then I woke up and had that...'Phew..that was just a dream' feeling. Even though the whole giving birth  to a large scaly creature should have tipped me off.

Anyway. I haven't had as many dreams this pregnancy because I haven't been sleeping very well and had to document this craziness. In case Elliot happens to be the next Crocodile Hunter and we can use this story for publicity or something.

In other news. I got out the baby carrier/carseat to make sure it was on the itty bitty baby adjustment and put the extra little padding in and put her cute pink toys on it that Griffin picked out.

Griffin thought it was Christmas. Actually better than Christmas since that was a bit overwhelming for him. He crawled in it and started making baby noises. Then he ever so gently asked for his paci and blankies and continued to sit there watching his pre-bed cartoon. I love my little baby. However whenever I call him "baby" he corrects me with, "No. No baby. I Giffy!" He asked me to carry him around in it...we didn't make it very far. Little goober. I think he will be so excited when he realizes Elliot is an actual baby and not a figment of his mom's imagination...he would actually probably be more excited if she did happen to be an alligator.

 "PACI!!!!!!"

He got so relaxed I asked Andrew if it would be weird to strap him in and let him sleep in it on his big boy bed. I don't think he even responded. Uh...yeah...I was just kidding....uhhuh...

8 Months, Baby!!

Literally...my baby is 8 months gestation. Woohoo!!

And....she ain't hidin'. I've got quite the girth going on right now.

So. Without further adieu.....here she blows!!

I also got some painting done in the nursery during Griff's super long nap today. I couldn't sit still. I am slightly regretting this decision now but I did get a lot done. All of our light and outlet plates have officially (cheaply) been painted oil rubbed bronze in this house....a can or 4 of spray paint is way cheaper than actually buying new ones. Shh...don't tell.

I used my free Habitat for Humanity retail store pink paint on the wall behind the crib. Now the only thing I have left is to attempt to sew some girly fabric onto the curtains and make a cover for the ottoman (sp??) in there and we are done! Except the whole having the baby thing. I'm hoping to recruit JJ in that endeavor when she is in town ;) The sewing...not the having a baby...got about 6 more weeks before we do that.

Here are some pictures of the new and improved nursery!

Voila...gotta love free paint that works perfectly! Yeehaw cheapskate!

Sting

"Sting. Sting would be another person who's a hero. The music he's created over the years, I don't really listen to it, but the fact that he's making it, I respect that."

Name that quote...

Maybe I'm a freak but this is one of my favorite quotes from the movie Zoolander. I find it quite hilarious.

Why am I bringing this up??

Because my dad emailed me the other day that Sting's teenage daughter's name is Eliot...but her nickname is Coco. Who knew?! Creative minds think alike. I'm thinking I should try my hand at writing some songs now...

She also has an album out called 'I Blame Coco'. Random fact of the day from Kat...

I should see if they have any other kids...I might steal their names too...

31 week appointment

Was short and sweet...nothing much new to report. She is still crazy active in there and seems to have a bit of a 'tude. The midwife was feeling my stomach trying to figure out if she was still breech (she is...boo) and was pushing on her little head then she got the doppler and we listened to the heartbeat. It was crazy fast which kinda freaked me out but she said it was good...it slowed down after a minute and apparently she was just mad about someone messing with her head. Feisty! Wonder where she gets that...hmm...

So, I am officially going to go to a chiropractor and start hanging out with my hips above my tummy trying to get this child to turn head down. The midwife also suggested putting headphones near her head and slowly moving them down so she will follow the music...not sure about that one. I am thinking the chiropractor and possibly acupuncture and if none of that works she said they will try to externally move her around closer to my due date.

We shall see!

I've been having some pretty decent contractions but I feel like I was having more with Griffin at this point...it was probably the stress from working and all that jazz. I am pretty stress free at this point unless I start to dwell on the adoption too much.

A few more days till I hit 8 months! Yay! I'm hitting the running trail with Shelly again tomorrow...wonder how far I will make it now that I'm officially wobbly??

28 week Appt.

I had my 28 week (actually 29.5 since I was out of town...who's counting:?) today and everything is still looking good!

Got to hear her sweet heartbeat again. I'm so thankful for that little heartbeat. It makes me smile.

I didn't gain a million pounds over Christmas which was good to see. 16 pounds up so far. We will see how high that number climbs in the next 10 or so weeks!

Miss Elliot Coco has decided to keep her head way up high. Booty down low. Feet all over the place. Not to excited to hear that she wasn't head down but we still have plenty of time for her to move. And move she does, quite a bit so I'm not worried yet. The midwife said that walking would help get her head down since it is the heaviest part of her body....errrr....if running hasn't done it so far I'm pretty sure walking won't do the trick but we shall see. I'm going to resume my Saturday morning long run with Shelly tomorrow! So EXCITED! I've missed them. I'm curious to see how far I will make it. I took a week off trying to get rid of this ever-present cold. And also because I'm pretty sure I broke a toe but it's feeling a bit better so I'm sure running will help that heal too, right? Bueller....bueller....No? Oh well.

I'm also excited to join the Y next week! Yay for a gym membership! It will make running/walking much easier since the Griff has gotten a bit cranky in the jogging stroller in his old age. I am pretty sure I found an orange Bob Revolution Duallie on Craigslist today! Thanks to JJ for her generous birthday/baby present! I am hoping I can pick it up this weekend and that is pretty much the only baby gear that I need and we are go for bambina!

SO. READY. Bring on this little princess! Griff still looks at me like I have 2 heads when I mention her so he's still in for a big surprise! Pretty sure he will be the best big bro ever though.

Signing off! Next appointment in 2 weeks!

Elliot's Last In-utero Flight!

Yay for that! The flights/layover to Knoxville was rough on me. I talked about that earlier. Mainly due to my inability to rationalize taking a STROLLER.

So, I thought there is no way the trip home would be like that. What are the chances.

It was pretty rough. I now blame the fact that I'm gettin large and in charge and again...the stroller thing.

My original perfectly planned 1PM flight through ATL then to Seattle was cancelled. BLAST. I leave around 12 or 1 so that I can keep him awake during the first short flight and then pass out for most of the long one.

My "can do" dad got me on a different airline that just left a couple of hours later. However a couple of hours to a 2 year old's nap schedule is quite a bit so he crashed on the short flight to Chicago...woke up grumpy and stumbling around the airport asking for DADDY SHISHY NAYNAY!!! Therefore I bought him some yummy Garrett's cheese popcorn and set up his Finding Nemo so that I wouldn't spend the layover chasing him around like I did at the Knoxville airport. I'm pretty sure a GAZILLION people laughed at my situation there. Big ol' preggo lady chasing a CRIZAZY 2 year old up and down the airport (luckily it was Knoxville so not big and not crowded). He lost a shoe and continued to run and fall, repeat, repeat, repeat. Smash his head ona rocking chair. Poop right as the started boarding so I sprinted to the bathroom to change him before getting on the plane.

Flash forward to the almost 4 and a half hour flight to Seatte. He didn't sleep but thankfully was only slightly hyper and restless the whole time. The dude in front of me did give me a couple of dirty looks when Giff banged on the tray table a little bit but I just couldn't muster up enough energy to give a darn. He had an empty seat next to him so I figured it was that bad he could just scoot on over and call it a day. Right when the pilot said "Flight attendants, prepare for landing" little dude decided to pass out. At least he took  20 minute nap for me.

Miss Elliot has decided to disagree with the whole flying thing which made me so glad that this was her last pre-birth flight. I had a gazillion braxton hicks contractions, major reflux, and totally thought I was going to hurl there at the end. Luckily I didn't. The guy sitting on the aisle in our row was none to pleased that I had to get up twice during the flight. I had to pee. Then Griff climbed under the seat and popped up a minute later saying, "I poopied!!!" So I took him back to the bathroom to change him. The whole way back he was yelling, "I poopied!"

And can I just say, if you haven't changed a 2 year old's poopy diaper while balancing him on top of an airplane toilet lid in a tiny little cell of a room, you haven't lived! It worked though. Then for some reason the whole way back up the plane he yelled, "Giddyup Horsey!!" over and over. No idea where that came from. I thought it was cute. Little stinker.

Elliot was SUPER active on the flights and actually all night. I think we have a future traveler on our hands! I had fun hanging up all of her new clothes from her loving family and friends today! Can't wait to put them on her cute little body!!!

I still have this cold/sinus/whatever thing going on. It's been  2 and  a half weeks so I'm beginning to wonder if it's pregnancy rhinitis or something. I have an appointent tomorrow so I'll see what they think. I'm a little worried though because I weighed myself this morning and according to my scale I haven't gained anything since my last appointment on Dec. 7....I'm hoping our scale is wrong because I'm pretty sure they wouldn't be pleased with that. It's hard to eat when you can't breathe! We will see tomorrow! I'm sure our scale is wrong and their's will show some major poundage. We shall see!

Protective Big Bro?

Griff is still not acknowledging baby Elliot. He still looks at me like I'm crazy when I ask where she is and doesn't like to put his hand on my stomach when she is doing her kickboxing.

However. If I ask  him to feel baby Elliot kick and he pretty much ignores me but I then ask Lila and Ansley if they want to feel her kick. As soon as they start heading over to feel it, he yells, "NO!" and runs over and puts both hands on my tummy and won't let them near.

Curious if that means he will be overprotective of her or if it means he is just greedy....we shall seeeeee!

7 Months!!

We are officially in the 7th month!!!

I am in Knoxville for our extended post-Christmas visitation. I thouht maybe a long visit would make the time go by faster and Miss Coco would be in my arms sooner. We shall see! My well-traveled belly is getting rather rotund which is the way I like it!

New things this month include getting a good 12 hours of bicycle kicks from little Elliot most days. I've had a cold for a week now (getting old!) and mom came in to my room the other night to bring some oils to see if they would help me breathe and she got to see the nightly belly dance. Sometimes when I lay down at night my stomach goes berserck as EC river dances on my organs. I LOVE IT! I love seeing her move so much. I wouldn't have it any other way.

She also better have a head-o-hair because I have been throwing up every few nights when I lay down to go to bed because the reflux is so bad...come on big money! Show me some hair!! The throwing up thing isn't too attractive though. At least Andrew hasn't had to endure it yet...oh but the will and he will so turned on...mmmmhmmm. As I have said before though, projectile vomit is a teensy tiny price to pay to bring home our little princess. I will take it a million times!

Other than that we are still doing awesome and I am so excited to meet our baby girl! About 11-12 more weeks to go!

And here is the belly!

The rare shot of Griffin acknowledging the fact that there actually is a baby in mommy's tummy. He thinks mama is gettin' fat and crazy talking about babies in her belly (seriously...how could that possibly happen??)