Sunday, September 26, 2010

Less than 40 days!

We are under the 40 day mark until Vivian's due date. I'm feeling good about at least 35 weeks at this point. Last Monday I had an OB check and was already 1 1/2-2 cm dilated and 50% effaced. My doctor wasn't too concerned and told me that early dilation can be common in second pregnancies. They won't stop labor after 34 weeks anyway, so we'll just have to wait and see what Vivian has planned. I have tons of Braxton Hicks contractions but they don't seem to be progressing much at this point. I am holding out for full-term dang it!

I can see how this last month drags for a lot of women. There are so many things I want to get done, but I'm so anxious to meet her as well. At least my body is being more cooperative at this point. She has settled into a center head-down position so my hip is feeling mostly normal. I have some swelling in my calves. It's nothing anyone else would notice, but if I press a finger into my skin, a dent stays there for 30 seconds or more. It's a bit strange. Sleeping more than an hour or two at a time has become an issue, but I just assume that's my body preparing me for what is to come. No real complaints at this point.

My mom left today after a five day visit. It was mostly uneventful. Bennett really seems to love her. He calls her his "ga" which is very cute. We spent a lot of time in Boulder at the farmer's market while she fawned over the variety of organic/natural products available. We took Bennett to the pool and the Sunflower Farm. For extra fun, he decided to poop in the pool, which was lovely to say the least.

So, we will keep chugging along. Sorry to be so boring...my brain isn't working well at the moment.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

September

Fall is upon us again. It's my favorite time of the year. Right now the daytime temps are still a bit warm for me (mid 80's), but in just a few short weeks the perfect weather will arrive. And the light will look like fall and all will be well.

Our garden veggies are mostly ready. We did OK this year. Only one tomato plant survived out of three, but really one is enough for our needs. We'll have lots of carrots, red/green/yellow peppers, and about 10 onions. We pulled our broccoli and brussels sprout plants because they were overtaken by bugs. We learned more and will hopefully have better luck next year.

My mom's ticket finally went through so she will be coming on September 21st and leaving on the 26th. She is excited to see Bennett but already complaining about the stress of traveling, leaving her house, job, etc. I hope she can have some fun when she gets here. I'll at least take her to the Boulder Farmer's market. She should enjoy that along with lunch at one of their organic/all natural eateries. She should move there, it's her kind of place food-wise.

I don't know if I have complained here about Bennett's picky eating habits. He can be very difficult when it comes to eating a variety of food and trying new things. But things have been slowly improving. He actually fed himself a whole cup of applesauce today with a spoon. Success on multiple levels! He usually ignores utensils and won't eat things the consistency of applesauce. He is also eating most meat (as long as there is BBQ sauce or ketchup) and is back to eating a wide variety of fruit. I'm hoping we can graduate to eating some kind of pasta soon, because seriously, what kid doesn't eat spaghetti and mac n cheese? I'm not holding out for veggies any time soon.

He absolutely wore me out at the park today by insisting on walking 1/4 of a mile one direction. That was all fine until he refused to walk back and screamed the entire way while I carried him. Me carrying Bennett right now is difficult. I think we will avoid that park in the future.

My hip is feeling better most days. I think she moved her little head elsewhere and I am noticing the relief. The PT and time in the pool help as well. I wish I could spend the rest of the pregnancy walking in the pool. I had an OB appointment on Wednesday where my BP was 132/72. This was a higher office reading for me so he ran blood work. All is clear at the moment. My liver is not going to explode imminently anyway. I have noticed that my BP is higher (about the same as the MD office) in the grocery stores most of the time now. So I will keep a close eye on that.

I have been getting my nesting things slowly accomplished. Bennett has someone to come and watch him if Vivian comes before Bernie's mom comes on October 22nd (thanks Michaela!). I got his box of stuff ready with some new books, puzzles, his blanket, clothes, snacks, etc. so she will be ready to go. My bag for the hospital is about half packed and I am very slowly getting the cleaning and organizing done. I am going to try and wait until the end of September to wash and organize all of her clothes, but we'll see if I can be patient.

Our very last growth scan is the first week in October. We are on every two week visits to the OB right now which will go weekly also in October's first week. It feels like we are getting closer!

I think we will check out the Sunflower Farm on one of Bernie's off days this week. It sounds like fun:

http://www.sunflowerfarminfo.com/kids_farmfest.htm