32 Weeks and Counting!

I haven't updated in several weeks, shame on me! Well I survived my fantastic shower. I will have to post some pictures later of the wonderful job my cousin, grandmother and aunt did in decorating. They carried out the owl theme throughout the entire shower and it was absolutely adorable.

We ended up with about 40 people there, which includes some of the men folk that came and hung out in the kitchen doing the dishes. Yes, that's right, they did the dishes! We ended up with far more stuff than we ever imagined getting. We are so grateful for the wonderful friends and family that were so generous.

We also started our Lamaze classes a few weeks ago. Due to the snow storm we ended up with last month, the course got shortened from five to four weeks. We have one more class to go to this next Thursday, which I'm looking forward to because we finally get to have a tour of the hospital.

Also happening Thursday, and a bit more exciting for us, is our final ultrasound. I wasn't going to have the doctor do it at first, since we will have to pay for it, however, the more we thought about it, the more we realized we really want to know everything is going ok in there. I don't have a lot of time left, so knowing whether or not things are looking good for delivery is important to us.

I will have to do another post with the nursery updates. It's coming along! They are going to start mudding the walls in the next few days so maybe we will be painting in the next week or so. That would be fantastic!

Week 29, Snow, School, Stress, and some other S words

S words....that reminds me of a Celebrity Jeopardy episode from SNL. I'll take Swords for $200 Alex. That's S Words, oh nevermind.

Well I've reached week 29. Sleep (ah ha, another s word!) has been very hit or miss. As I type this, it is 10:30am. I never went to sleep last night. I tried, believe me I did. It just never came. I cannot lay in bed awake too long. I start thinking about all of my stressors and it just worries me even more, making matters worse.

School has been totally kicking my butt lately. I'm taking two courses this semester, and while one of them is cake, the other one is a mess. I have to create a course, beginning to end, on a topic of my choice. I do love my topic though - Baby Sign Language. Jason and I are completely on board for teaching Henry to sign. I took over 3 years of sign language while in high school and college, and it is amazing how much of it I still know. This book has been our favorite and I highly, highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in teaching their baby to sign. The benefits of baby sign language are countless. I could spend an entire post on just that. But I won't!

So, the snow. Yesterday we received the largest amount of snow that Texas has seen in one day in recorded history. It's completely insane how much we got. The DFW airport reported 12.5 inches. I know to my MD/VA friends, this is nothing. But for here, it is completely unprecedented. While it is a bit frustrating being stuck at home (we cannot make it out of the neighborhood in our Civic, well ok, I don't want to try), it is also absolutely beautiful outside. It's been a lot of fun walking around in it with Jason. He's been very reminiscent of his childhood up in Washington. They spent a lot of time skiing. Me, personally, I've never seen more snow than this and of course have never been skiing. Absolutely beautiful! Especially since Jason and Mike (my father in law) were able to dry out the satellite. I MUST be able to watch the Olympics tonight. Opening ceremony! SQUEEEE!!!! (another s word!)

One week from tomorrow is my shower (oh my, there's another one!). Can't wait. I'm so lucky to have such a wonderful family that cares so much about me to throw this for me. My grandmother has really outdone herself. I think she's just as excited about Henry as we are. From the way she acts, possibly even more so!

Ok, that's enough S Words for one day.

Third Trimester, Here I Come!

Well I've officially survived the entire 2nd trimester and have started the last leg of the run. I'm 28 weeks as of today. It seems like the weeks pass more slowly lately. I think it is because I think of him so much, and every week I get more and more excited to meet him.

I had my glucose tolerance test on Monday to check for Gestational Diabetes. I'm in the clear! I tested with a 121 and they want you to be under 135 before the test again. What a relief! I was really worried I'd turn up with GD - the last thing I wanted. I think I just assume the worst far too often. So many people seem to have to take the 3 hour test or even end up with GD these days. I'm very fortunate to not be one of those people.

We had to go back today for the actual appointment after a scheduling issue on Monday. The doctor wasn't at the office we normally go to Monday, buuuut no one ever told us that. The doctor checked everything and all my numbers are pretty much bang on. Blood pressure is fine, urine samples fine, glucose fine, heartbeat of the baby fine, size of uterus, fine. Pretty much everything is exactly as it should be.

Next appointment will be February 25th at 31 weeks. We start our Lamaze Class February 11th and are having the baby shower on February 20th. Busy busy month for us!

Now if I can just avoid the stress from school eventually killing me, we'll be great!

23/24 week appointment today

Everything looks normal. Apparently I did not gain any weight between my last appointment and today. I am VERY pleased with this, considering this was over the holidays. My goal is to have the same result next month. Don't worry, I am not starving myself. I am a bigger girl to begin with, and my doctor only wants me to gain like another 7 lbs TOTAL. I still have a long way to go! The baby looks good as far as she can tell, pretty much a smooth, easy going appointment.

My grandmother informs me that she has my shower set up for February 20th and plans on inviting around 60 people, yowza! Well, if she wants to and they want to come, more power to them, right? She also went to Target today and bought my travel system which is being discontinued soon. She got 20% off!



On a heavier note, I am getting more and more confused about how we're supposed to pay for the hospital stay. We do not have maternity (which I cry over at least once a week), just regular insurance. My husband is self employed and I'm currently in grad school and unable to find a job to save my life. They're quoting us around $4200 but that doesn't include the anesthia, pediatrician and she said something else. The epidural is $850!!! This is only if we pay BEFORE I go into labor. If we don't? It could cost $2800 to $3800. Just for the epi. RIDICULOUS! What makes the price jump $2k? I really want to know.

We were not planning on having this baby. He is a total surprise. And while I grow to love him more and more each day, I kick myself at the same time for not doing this the "right" way. Me in a stable job, us in a house instead of living next door to his parents in a place that only has one bedroom. I just hope he understands someday that we did the best we could.