Reality sinks in...

It hit me today, I am going to be someones parent in 7-11 weeks (9 W till my due date)...

Floors are done, Rug is down, furniture is put together and in it's place...all that is left is to hang the curtains/valance and wall hangings....Bedding is washed and Newborn as well as 0-3 months clothes are clean and folded...What will I do with my next several weeks?

Here are some pics of the room so far:

Before, it was used as my home office (this was actually around a year ago...)

And After....... (taken today)

Pre Term labor anyone? How about a walk in the woods?

I had a pretty rough weekend...loads of contractions and pain/pressure in my pelvis. There were points of the weekend that I was in so much pain I could not walk. The most contractions I had in an hour was 5, other hours I had none. I spent a good portion of my time on the couch or in bed, feet up, glass of water at my side.

When I had my 30W check up yesterday, we talked about my rough weekend, she did an internal exam and said my cervix is still set up like fort knox, so that is good. She was concerned with all of the items I had listed out for her, however because they were not all happening at once, she agreed that I was doing the right things by listening to my body and resting.

She will continue to check my cervix bi weekly if the pressure and contractions continue, but damn it, she didn't take me out of work as I hoped (lol). Not that I want to be on bed rest, but I bet I would feel a ton better if I didn't have to be here daily....on the bright side of things, only 29 more days of work left for me!

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When I go into the Dr. I always have my "list" ready. Questions, concerns, issues, whatever I can think of to bring up to her. This weeks list had a few items on it about "Personal Hygiene". I can't see my lady parts any more...therefore they are certainly not getting the care and maintenance that usually takes place down there.

(parental figures-maybe you shouldn't read this part)

My lack of "grooming" is really bothering me. Not sure why, but it is. T offered to take care of it, I had to politely decline his offer as I would most likely laugh the whole time, ending up with a bit of a mess. Here I am, going to deliver a baby in front of him, potentially poop on the table in front of him, yet I can not allow him to trim the hedges....

So I asked the Dr. about waxing. I have never waxed there, well at least not successfully (great post for another day). I wax my eyebrows and lip all the time but the bikini area, yikes! So I asked her if the pain could cause me to go into early labor or anything like that. She just kind of looked at me like I was crazy and advised that as my Dr. she is the one "looking" down there, and she has no concerns with the forest. (do you like all my little analogies?) So now I am conflicted..do I endure the pain and get it done to make myself feel better? Or so I suck it up and wait another 9.5 weeks to tackle the bush?

Personal days...

Are pretty flippin fabulous! I have today off. Slept in a bit (till 8:30), of course I still had to get up at 5:00 to feed the cat. I would have slept later than I did but T had to get up to go serve on a Jury..poor guy, he is miserable about it.

If there is one thing about my husband that I know, it is that he is not a fan of the way the justice system works. Well maybe that isn't totally the way to put it...he just does not feel that it should be up to him to determine the fate of another human being..he is not god. Luckily he is serving on a civil case, which simply involves a cash payout vs. jail time of an individual, but still, he is not at all happy about it.

When he went in on Tuesday for Jury Duty I told him to wear one of his funny political shirts that I've gotten him over the years...like "The Gaza Strip Club XXX" or "R.I.P Habeas Corpus" I figured those would help prevent him from being chosen, but no..he wears a fishing shirt. Duh they want the rednecks!

Anyway, I now have the house to myself. I was going to work on the baby's room but it stinks WAY too bad for me to go in there right now. T finished up the floors, they look so good, I am so proud of him (and can not wait for him to do the rest of the upstairs!). Instead I think I'll go up to town for breakfast at my favorite diner, finish up my dreaded thank you cards (only like 40 more to go-ouch), and start organizing some of these gifts into piles...you know stuff that needs to be washed, stuff that needs to go in the closet for a while until baby is bigger, stuff that we will use right away...etc.

Everyone enjoy your weekends. Tomorrow I have a hair appt, a 3rd b-day party and a 70's party tomorrow night..busy day. But nadda on Sunday!

One last note~ Congrats to Amanda on the birth of her precious baby Noah this week!

Sneaky Sneaky....

My friend Rose, one of my closest and dearest friends, organized a surprise baby shower at work today! There were lots of people involved in actually pulling it off, she had to have help to pull one over on me! Of course this is also on one of the days that I chose to not wear one on my really cute pregnancy outfits (yes there really are cute outfits out there), hair is up in barrettes, and no make up on....

It totally caught me off guard. I thought I was going into this dreaded 2009 budget meeting. I had all my shit printed out, all my defense talking points outlined, I was "so" prepared! My boss scheduled this god awful meeting from 12-2...Hello! Do you not know that pregnant people need to eat meals? I advised her that I would be a little late since I was booked up till noon and really needed to heat my lunch up and bring it with me (stuffed peppers...yummy).

There was a line in the break room, so me being me, I waited patiently chatting away. One of my fellow managers came in looking for me, again I explained that um hello, I am mid way through my 7th month of pregnancy and can not go without lunch..I'll be there in a few minutes! For christ sakes can't a girl heat up lunch around these parts?

So I head into the room I think the meeting is in, only to walk in on like 30 people, so I quickly turn and walk out figuring I have the wrong room. They had to stop me. I still at this point had no clue!

So now I know where my 2nd play pen and crib mobile were.....also got just tons and tons a other stuff. One girl gave me this box that was decorated by her two little girls and in the box contained like 15 of their favorite baby and childhood books. She also gave me a hand made afghan from her mother. I got the coolest diaper cake from one of my employees and this one woman I work with she makes chocolates....she made a rocking baby cradle with a sleeping baby in it out of white chocolate and surrounding it are lots a little pieces of dark and milk chocolate foot prints, baby blocks, rattles...too flippin cute to eat!

Loads of PJ's, onesies, blankets, diapers, etc...almost like an entire 2nd shower!

I'll take some pics of the chocolates and diaper cake later...my camera batteries are dead right now.

Pregnancy, pregnancy and more pregnancy...

Sorry for all the "preggo" talk lately...on the plus side I am now 29 weeks, which means approximately 11 weeks (or 77 days) remain!

Not sure I grew a lot in the last couple of weeks, maybe a hair bit though.


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I had my baby shower yesterday, it was great, got loads of good shit (it outta be good-I picked it all out!), T and I went through it all again last night and I showed him all the fun toy stuff.

But if I can be totally honest on here...really disappointed in my friends. Don't get me wrong a few of my friends were there, and they are actually the ones that tend to blow shit off last minute, but then there were at least 7 of my friends that never said they weren't coming (some even arranged to bring food) yet didn't show up. Now a day later, not even a phone call. WTF is that about?

One of my MIL friends came (she was invited) and didn't bring a gift, is that not odd? I hate to sound ungrateful...but really, do you go to a bridal or baby shower, a birthday party, and NOT bring a gift?

I am confused/concerned about my registry....there are a few items that are showing as purchased (rather expensive items) yet I didn't get them. The people that didn't show up are not people with loads of money so I don;t think that any of them bought the $170 playpen, I am wondering if the store messed up. Guess I'll wait a couple of weeks to see if it arrives on my doorstep.

Also..is this weird? I received nipples (bottle nipples) from 3 people....but no one got me bottles. I registered for the bottles and the nipples...weird?

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Bought some really cute onesies and PJ's this week at Old Navy. They were having a kick ass sale on Baby stuff (in some cases it was 70% off). I think the most I spent on any one item was $2.50.

PEACE LOVE AND ROCK & ROLL
THE WINGS WITH A MUSIC NOTE IN THE CENTER

ROCK AND ROLL LEGEND


RECYCLE

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T should be done sanding the baby's room floor tomorrow. He Polyurethane it 2 coats and we should be able to start moving stuff in my the weekend. Can't wait to have that project to work on. I need to start preparing the room to help me pass some time and figure out what else I could need to get.....

Day 201 and I am still here...

Thankfully my dream did not come true.

We started childbirth classes last night...it was interesting.

There were 7 couples in there. One was a girl and guy I went to high school with! Really awkward. We weren't friends, they are a couple of years older than me. Anyway, just weird.

T made it through ok, but was turning white as a ghost a couple of times. I have to admit, all the talk about the mucous plug and bloody show got me a bit queezy too!

The baby was VERY active throughout the class. Especially during the deep breathing exercise.

Couple of observations:
7 couples
3 yellow team
1 blue team
3 pink team

All couples but one or two were CLEARLY in their 30's.

2 woman are due a couple of weeks before me and DO NOT look pregnant at all.

2 woman are due within 3 days of me and we all look totally pregnant.

2 woman are due a week to two weeks after me and DO NOT look pregnant.

It was odd that the 3 of us due in late Jan early Feb were the ones with the belly's..one was blue and the other pink, me yellow..so can't even try to determine if the sex has anything to do with our sizes.

FYI: Blue team = Boy, Pink = Girl and Yellow = don't know

A little something on my mind..

I posted a couple of weeks back that I had the baby on day 200...well that is today. I am certainly not feeling like I'll have it today (thankfully) however I woke up feeling "odd", not sure how to explain it.

I called into work and crawled back into bed to cuddle with T.

The baby's movements today are a bit off too. Usually s/he is really active in the am as I am driving into work and then again around lunch and again at night while I am in bed. So far this morning I have felt the tiniest little movements, just a tap tap here and there. Not it's normal disco action.

Maybe we are both just really tired today. I will go and enjoy my cup of joe and see if that wakes us up.

Keep your fingers crossed that my dream does not come true today.

A little bit of my history...

...I am going to tell you a sad story now. It is a true story, one that formed who I am today,one that changed the direction of my future, one that lives in me daily....

When I was a young teen (12-14) I had the bestest friend in the world...her name was Sarah. She was a year older than me, but in my grade. Our dad's worked together as mechanics which initially forced us to be friends.

She was way cool. Total 80's rocker chick! Big hair, you know the kind that you used the silver and pink can of aqua net hairspray for! She loved Metallica, Megadeath, Striper...any of those wicked 80's hair bands.

We became friends, sisters, immediately. We had a connection, unlike any I had had with anyone else before or since.

I recall that we had a fight when I was around 13 and then she moved to TX with her dad for several months and we were not speaking at that time. What the fight was over...I can't remember now. When she returned to CT we hooked back up, said how sorry we were and how much we missed each other and back to being BFF we were...Anyway, she never again lived in my town, always lived about 30 mins away, but we managed to see each other frequently.

On June 8, 1991 we went to a local amusement park to see Poison, Slaughter and the Bullet boys. My dad got us the tickets. He brought me, along with Sarah, another great child hood friend Kelly and one of Sarah's friends - Liz. It was awesome! We rode rides all day, then watched a kicking rock show and then headed home. Everyone slept at my house that night (as they always did) and we had plans to go swimming the next day with my boyfriend - Fred and his best friend - Shane (Shane had just turned 16 and got his license).

The boys picked us up around 9am, we were heading to the Shane's house to go swimming in his pool.....6 of us packed into his ford escort station wagon..Shane driving, Fred in the front seat, me on the center console in the front seat. Kelly behind Shane, Sarah in the middle of the back seat, and Liz behind Fred.

Music playing, windows down, sun shining....6 kids loving Summer! Loving life! Loving being young and together!

And then it happened.......we crashed - head on into a mini van that was coming around the corner. We were in the wrong lane, Shane was showing off for the girls, swerving, being a typical 16 year boy. When he saw the van he cut the wheel, we spun and spun and spun until WHAM we stopped.

I don't know how much time passed by the time I opened my eyes, it felt instant, but I don't really know. It was quiet..really really quiet.

Fred and I were both alert, we struggled to get out of the car, wind knocked out of us, confused, scared, covered in blood. He and I were in the front seat with no seat belts on..our faces broke the windshield. Once we got away from the car, we realized no one else was following.

I ran back to the car and opened the back door. Got Liz out but she was in severe pain, struggling to walk. Sarah was slumped over on the seat with her seat belt secured around her waste, Kelly was trapped, trapped behind the driver seat with her door partially embedded in her chest and stomach...this was bad really bad....Fred had gone to check on Shane and the people in the van..only to return and advise me that what he saw was not good, not for Shane at least...not good at all.

Sarah wouldn't wake up, Kelly was moaning in agony, and Shane was silent..there was nothing we could do.

Fred and I rode to the hospital together in the ambulance, holding hands the entire time, we were both so scared. These were our best friends and we had no idea what was happening with them.

Many hours passed, we both got stitched up, x-rayed, and released to our parents. We asked immediately what was happening "we haven't heard anything yet" is all we kept being told. Our parents took us back to my house, once there they sat us down.....

Sarah and Shane had died. Both died right there, right then. Kelly was in critical condition and in a coma, undergoing major surgery to remove large portions of her intestines, kidneys, bowel, etc she would be in the hospital for a very, very long time...Liz had a broken pelvis bone and was alert and would recover......Fred and I....a few lousy stitches.

We were both so lucky to be in the shape we were...but we felt so horrible. His best friend...my best friend...gone, both of them.

That was a very hard time for me, mentally, emotionally, physically. Thanks god Fred and I had each other. It bonded us in a way that no one should ever have to be bonded, but man I am not sure I would have made it through with out him and him with out me...

This all happened 17 years ago, a lifetime ago. I haven't spoken to Kelly in nearly 13 or 14 years. We had a fight about a guy that was using her for all the money she got from this accident and it ended our friendship. We live in the same town now, and every time I go out to the store or gas station or anywhere local I hope to run into her so we can re-connect. Kelly is married (I think) with 2 children. I wasn't friends with Liz, so really never spoke to her again after this happened. And Fred, dear Fred. He was my first love, we were young, but we really did love each each other. Not enough to be together forever (thankfully cause I can't imagine not being with T), but enough to share our first love experience with each other. We still talk about once a year. T and I have visited him a couple of times when we went to Cape Cod (where he has lived for a long time). He is a good guy, a dad now to a daughter...Sarah.

I am sharing it with you all tonight because I received sad news today that Sarah's only full sibling, her younger brother Steven (she had 4 brothers total) died on Nov 1, 2008. Both of her Mothers children are now dead. Her other brothers are all from her Dad. I don't know the circumstances of his death, just that he was 29, married in February of 2008, and living in NH. His service is Saturday at 1pm...the exact same time as my shower and very far away, so I can not even attempt to make it.

It made me think a lot about Sarah this afternoon...made me think a lot about becoming a parent and the deep loss that her mother must have felt for the past 17 years and the deeper loss she must be feeling now.

Thanks for letting me share with you.....

I passed...

...my glucose test that is, no gestational diabetes for me thank you.

Went in for my 28 week check up yesterday...lost 1 lb and passed my glucose test, so I celebrated by eating fried chicken, french fries and chocolate chip cookies for dinner!

Yee Haw!

Time for an intervention?

...I am an addict.....to the Internet that is. We have no Internet access at home right now. It is totally stressing me out! I can't get into facebook, myspace or my Yahoo mail. WTF??

We were in the process of switching from our phone company to our cable company for Internet access...no more. Now I need to call the phone company and get a technician out to my house to hook me up in the den for Internet access.

It is times like this that it becomes apparent to me and T that I AM my father's daughter.....I have his temper....his really really bad temper....

Here is our journey into switching Internet providers.....

• T called the cable company Sat night because he got an error while installing the drivers for the new modem. After spending a significant amount of time on the phone with them they were of no help, so a help desk ticket needed to be opened and the service desk would get back to us in 24-48 hours....
• Sunday I called to check on the status and try to have it escalated. No luck, I spoke with the escalation desk and they basically told me that 24-48 hours is standard for residential accounts and that the ticket was assigned and I would be hearing from someone soon....
• Monday night around 7:45 I called again (seeing as though 48 hours has passed and still no call back), again they tell me that it is assigned to someone and I will be hearing from someone in the next 24-48 hours..so I questions this of course..seeing as though it has already been 48 hours. The rep proceeds to tell me that 24-48 is "business days" so Saturday and Sunday don't count. I FLIPPED OUT!

Do you think that when we spoke to people on Sat and Sun anyone said this to me? That was the last straw (that and the fact that they kept me on hold for 28 mins!). I told the rep to take his self starter kit and shove it up his ass! Cancel my sign up with them and if they wanted their equipment back they could come get it because I would NOT go out of my way to assist them in getting it back. I then told him that if his shit was still in my house at the end of this week I would be running it over for pleasure.

Man it pissed me off! But now I am screwed because I have no Internet at home. This means I can't even work from home when I need to. It is going to cost me well over $100 to have the phone company come out to hook up a jack in my den. And hell, while they are there, i am going to have other rooms converted too.

It's a numbers game....

I am 28 weeks today....that means that I have been pregnant for 196 days...I have 12 weeks remaining....or 84 more days.....I have only 38 more work days.....My shower is in 6 days.....

The baby's room is painted, trim needs one more coat, closet doors are coming out, the rug is gone, floors will be finished over the next week or two.

Crib is ready to be built, glider is at MIL's, changing table is built, clothing is piling up waiting to be washed.....

We start birthing classes this week, and new born care classes in 3 weeks....

The Holidays are coming, which doesn't leave much down time...

I can't believe that in less than 3 months I will be someones mother. It is hitting me now....like I have to push this thing out! Holy crap! That is gonna hurt~

Red wine tonight...

...that's about all I want...a nice big glass of red wine, but I can't! Not because of the baby, god he/she wants it too!

I am going for my diabetes testing in the morning and have to fast for 12 hours. Too bad I haven't had dinner yet (since I did not get out out work until 7:57 - 13 hours day...3 days in a row!) and my test is now 10 hours away, so dinner does not look like an option for me. I am hungry, very hungry. The last time I ate was at 1pm today.

Work is so stressful right now, it is nearly impossible to even find 5-10 mins to eat breakfast or lunch. There are many days I realize that I haven't eaten and it is nearly 4pm.

Right now all I want to do is walk out, quit, tell them all to go Fuck themselves! I would LOVE to see someone else do my job. Good fucking luck. My boss has no clue at all what I deal with all day having 14 people in India and 11 here in the US. I am in meetings daily from 7-5 then have to filter through the hundreds (yes HUNDREDS) of emails I received all day, then respond to some of them, and then do my actual fucking job! She is in at 7:30 and gone at 3:15, god I can not wait to go out on maternity and let her live in my world for several weeks. And if all goes well, maybe I'll screw her and not return at all because I will find a new job while I am out...

A girl can dream can't she?

I get my news in the morning....

...what a way to wake up!

Welcome President Elect Barack Obama!!

I am so proud to know that I helped elect you as the next American President.

You united this country in a way no other president has done since John F. Kennedy. You've inspired "change" in peoples thinking patterns, you've given so many of us "Hope" that you are our first ever African American President. History making, History breaking....

For the first time in 8 years, I am so proud of Americans..

Let's make History together....

...I was in line to vote at 5:55am...along with about 100 other people. I live in a tiny little town, seeing lines out the door and wrapped around the parking lot was shocking.

Regardless of the outcome in this election, this is a historical time in our Country.

Please have your voice heard today...go out and VOTE!!

**updated** I forgot to mention that I got to vote in booth number 13 this morning..13 is my favorite number! Maybe it is a positive sign of how things will turn out today.

Bye bye Kermit...

...our frog died yesterday. I went to feed him/her last night before dinner and he was laying on the bottom of his bowl..He plays dead a lot, so I tapped the glass, moved it around a bit and nothing..he was on his back, sleeping forever.

When T and I got married we had Beta fish and African Albino clawed frogs on the tables...this was one of our wedding frogs (I actually bought him after the fact cause there were none left after the wedding(. He lived nearly 3 years.

So long, farewell Kermit....

New Belly Pics...

It dawned on me this morning after I looked at Nancy's newest photo, that I never posted my 25 Week pic and it was time for my 27 Week one!!

25Weeks

27 Weeks

I learned today that babies born after week 27 have a 90% or better survival rate...relieving, still scary as hell, but relieving.

Oh and one last pic for my parents....

Accomplished...

I painted the baby's room today....all by myself! I get impatient waiting for T to do things, so I took it upon myself to do it. The color I chose was Aloe Essence by Valspar. It should be good for either a girl or a boy. (I'll post some pics in a later post..once it is done)

All I have left to do is the heater covers, which need to be cleaned first. I'll do those tomorrow. And the trim. I am just going to go with a crisp white for the trim. The windows and closet are already white (need a fresh coat) but the trim around the floor is all natural wood. I would prefer the wood, but don't want to go through the effort to strip all the already painted stuff..

I am also thinking about replacing the closet doors.....we'll see.

There is wall to wall carpet in my upstairs rooms. However the people we bought the house from had a dog and kids, so the carpet is pretty gnarly. I would LOVE to rip it up and re-finish the hardwood floors. I am crossing my fingers that I will be able to get T to do this in at least the baby's room. If he won't I will have to spend money on new carpet because I will not be letting a baby crawl around on this gross floor.