Our New House!!

Well it's official!! We are forever in debt and we own our first house!! yay! The long anticipated closing happened on Friday May 15 - it took about 45 minutes total! That seemed like the fastest closing evah. Here are some pictures of the new house...all from the outside. We are starting the painting today...we've been up there everyday since Friday! Yesterday, Jamie, Pat & Tarsha came up and helped us clean up the yard! My parent's came over too! My dad took away a lot of the trash that the seller's agent was supposed to take care of!! Thank goodness for them!! Tarsha did an awesome job of trimming our new hedges and helping me clean the inside! I will have to get some pictures of all the yard work that they did! These pictures are all the "before" photos! So THANK YOU everyone who has come up and helped us! It's very much appreciated!

Midgie loves her new yard...not so much the inside of the house though! She is not a fan of hard wood floors or linoleum. Which is the entire house. The only place there is carpet is in the hallway...weird. But here is a super cute video (well I think so) of Midge hopping in the yard. The grass was soooo tall!!! Mike has since then mowed and Jamie removed some of the poison sumac that has begun to consume our back yard!!

Here are some pictures of our new Pack 'N Play!! I put it all together! Mostly by self!! There was a lot of swearing and only one "episode"! Not too bad...good thing I'm not putting the crib together!! Oh yeah and I love Midgie's cameos!

Oh and there is no baby yet!! Friday I stayed home from work cause I wasn't feeling quite right...and I didn't want to go into labor before the closing. Yesterday I was having "period cramps" which I guess are what contractions feel like - but nothing too consistant. My stomach was also tightening the whole day! This morning...same thing...had cramps all morning but who knows...I feel fine right now. Because I want this baby to come...they won't come out!! So...I'm going to stop thinking about it and the baby will come out when it's ready!

xoxo,

Deidra

House!!!

Yay!! Today we are making the biggest purchase of our lives! I can't believe after all we've been through it's finally happening!! This has been the longest 4 months evah! We signed the P&S (purchase & sales) back on January 20th and we are closing today May 15th. Crazy huh?!? We are both very excited and very relieved. I just can't believe we are also having a baby in just a few weeks or possibly a few days! So much all at once...so fast!

I had my 37 week appointment yesterday. That went well. It started off with me losing 2lbs. I was glad! I feel like I'm huge and I don't know if my legs can keep carrying around all this extra weight! My hips have been killing me! We learned in our birthing class that the reason that my or should I say...women's hips hurt while in their 9th month of pregnancy is because of a hormone (can't remember the name) makes the joints in the hips and pelvis separate in preparation for birth! And it's kinda painful! So anywhoo...I had great blood pressure and I was telling the nurse how Dr. Baker thought I was going early. She said, "oh yes, I see you were 1 cm dilated last week". So I guess that's a good thing! So I met with Dr. Morris this week. Now if you think we Howards are fast talkers and can't understand a work we're saying you should hear this chick!! She talks so fast that I sometimes have a hard time understanding what she's talking about! I tested positive for the strep B thingy. What that means is as SOON as my water breaks, I need to get to the hospital so they can get me on an IV and get some meds pumping through me. No biggie. My sis had it, Tarsha had it. I guess it's more common than not. Then she did the exam. That HURT SO BAD! I almost cried. What's it going to be like when I go into labor?! She said that I'm still around 1 cm which I took to mean that I'm a little bigger than 1 cm but not quite 2 cm and I'm about 60% effaced! So exciting.

After my doctor's appointment we had our 2nd birthing class. I'm glad we only paid $50 for this class. Neither of us are overly impressed with the classes. I mean they are ok but there are so many people in our class it's kinda awkward - there were 11 couples last night! So 23 people including the instructor! We learned about some breathing techniques and labor coping techniques. Then she talked more about drugs. The more we talk about them...the less I want them! I've been saying since the beginning that I wanted to go O'Naturaalll...but I'm not opposed totally to drugs but I would still like to try it with out them. So we'll cross that bridge when we get there. We have 2 classes left...who knows if I will make it through them!

During our class, Mike kept asking me if I was alright. He said I was breathing really heavy. I told him I was very uncomfortable, the baby was very active, and I was having some cramping...nothing too bad or constant. And just plain tired! On my way home I thought I was going to die from the weird pain in my back! Oh and by the way...for all of you who think Sanford is SO FAR AWAY...it took me 31 minutes from the hospital parking lot to my driveway. I was even stuck behind a tractor trailer truck and an old meme on my way home. I had this weird burning pain sensation on my back - my upper back on the left side near my lungs. I felt like I wasn't going to make it home...I kept shifting my position...well as much as you can in a car while driving. Nothing was helping. When I layed down it started going away. Maybe it was all that sitting during our class.

I woke up around 1:30 this morning and had to pee and I was having some more pains. Some of them were aches, some of them crampy things. Again nothing too constant but I wasn't sleep well at all and again I was breathing kind of heavy. But that could just be pressure on my lungs. Who knows...so we decided that I would not go into work today, to take it easy cause I DO NOT want to go into labor before we close on the house!!

I will post some pictures later and blog later about my work shower! It was awesome! And I will try to take some pictures of OUR NEW HOUSE!

xoxo,
Deidra

Oh Baby...

Thursday was a very long day...I woke up nice and early - 5:20 am...I had a doctor's appointment at 4:30 pm and then Mike & I had our first birthing class. I was excited all day at work to go to my appointment and our class! I was excited about the appointment because it was the first one where they did an internal check to see if you are progressing and to the group b strep test. And I was excited to go to our class. I really wanted to see what their birthing center was like.





So I get to my "36" week appointment. It starts off the same as always...they weigh me, take my blood pressure and ask a bunch of questions and then ask if I had any questions. Then she told me to undress from the waist down. I did. Well as most of you know...when you go for your annual exam - after you get "naked" you have to sit on that stupid chair bed thingy and wait forever in all your glory with the little cloth they give you cover up with...well my doctor this week - Dr. Baker was in there in like .2 seconds! I was like AWESOME! Oh and by the way...Dr. Baker used to by my least favorite...I didn't dislike him he just wasn't my fav doc but I LOVE him now! He's great. So I tell him I thought I was leaking amniotic fluid...but he said no. He did a test to see if I had any ruptured membranes - I was golden. Nothing to worry about. Then he swabbed for the group b strep test. Now here comes the "good" part. He goes in for the internal to see if I'm dilated or anything. He tells me there might be some pressure. I'm like ok. At first I was like - Oh this isn't bad...then I felt it! It hurt so bad! I was closing my eyes!!! He then proceeds to keep feeling around and says "huh...hmmm" and I'm thinking to myself...what the heck does that mean?!?! He said that my cervix is thinning and softening. I am also measuring big for "36" weeks! He says I'm going to go early (well DUH...I've been saying that all along!!!). I can't go this early because Goodall wouldn't have the necessary NICU stuff that Portland - aka Maine Med - has. So I would have to go to Maine Med to have this baby! So he told me "No Sex and No Lifting for a week" - I'm thinking to myself...no worries!! Not really into either of those things right now! He kept making me repeat it! He also ordered an ultrasound to check my fluid levels and check the size of the baby. They scheduled my ultrasound for the next day - Friday.





After my appointment we went to our first birthing class. It was good. We probably won't make it through all of them...due to the fact that I AM GOING TO GO EARLY or at least I really hope I do and I think I will since the doctor told me so! We watched a video and it wasn't that bad. We also took a tour of the birthing center. Our next class is on Thursday and we will be learning massage techniques and breathing techniques.





Friday was my ultrasound. I still had to drink lots of water! What the heck?!?!?! Luckily I only had to drink 24 oz rather than 32 oz. It was still pretty bad. I had a little bit of a wait and I wasn't too happy about it. But I made it through just fine! I told her right off the bat that we still didn't want to know what we were having...she said that's fine. She said it would be hard to tell what the sex is at this point because it's all scrunched up in there! I guess she could find it but they would have to move the baby all around...not worth it! We've gone this far!!! She was measuring all the baby's parts: the head, the legs and the belly, stuff like that. Well she said our baby has LONG legs! She measured it's thigh and it was measuring 37 weeks 4 days! That's a week an a half further along than my "due date"! I knew it!! I knew I was farther along!!!! Anyways...she went on to tell me that we're having a big baby and my fluids are good. The baby is head down (yay!!) and has ALOT of hair! Is that why I pop tums like candy?!?! And she said that at this point...as of Friday...the baby's weight is 7lb 13 oz!! Holy Cow!! That's a big baby for "36" weeks! She said that if I don't have the baby in the next couple of weeks (which I take to mean 2 weeks) I will have to go in for another ultrasound.





And there you have it! I'm having a baby a lot sooner than they thought! Yay!! I told everyone that after May 15 (that's the day that I'm 37 weeks according to my doctor's) anything goes! I will do whatever it takes to have this baby! We're having a big baby that has lots of hair! So now I'm getting nervous. Nervous for a few reasons:





1. We still haven't closed on our house (we are now shooting for Friday May 15th)


2. We do not have our travel system - which includes the car seat and the base


3. I do not have my bags packed


4. OH MY GOD...NOTHING IS SET UP where we are living!!!!!!!!!


5. Am I really ready for this baby?!?!?!?!





So today Mike and I are headed to Babies R Us to get the travel system and an extra base. I am going to clear out a spot in our bedroom for the co-sleeper just in case we are still living in this dump when the baby comes. And I am going to pack my overnight bag for the trip to the hospital! Good thing I got my license renewed on Wednesday!! Oh yeah and thank god for Linda! She came by on Monday to take the clothes and all the bath stuff to wash for us! So all the baby clothes are washed and folded! So I can grab a few things to bring to the hospital! Keep your fingers crossed that....*I don't go before May 15th * We actually close on our house May 15th *I go into labor on May 16th!!!!!! Haha That last part might or might not happen but I hope it does!








xoxo,


Deidra

the fall...

Oh my god. I’m a loser. So last night I’m walking to my car to leave for the day. Well it’s raining out, we have a dirt driveway with loose gravel and pot holes. I was wearing a pair of wedge sandals that I wear ALL the time – and anyways I guess I stepped on a rock wrong or something and my ankle started rolling...next thing I know, I’m flailing like a cartoon character and I go down! I fell on all fours!! I jumped up (well as fast as a 9 month pregnant chick can) to make sure no one saw me, hobbled to my car and then started crying! It hurt so bad. My hands are sore – they have scratches all in them and they are puffy. My left knee is all skinned up – I didn’t rip my jeans – I don’t know how I didn’t. My left knee has some scratches too! I didn’t hit my stomach thank god! I called the doctors and they started asking me a million and one questions:

Doctors: “did you fall on your stomach?”
Me: “I don’t think so, it happened so fast I don’t remember but I don’t think so”
Doctors: “are you bleeding”
Me: “to be honest I don’t know. I just got in my car and I’m driving home”
Doctors: “are you having cramps”
Me: “no but I feel like I’m going to puke. But that could be from my nerves”
Doctors: “can you feel the baby move”
Me: “to be perfectly honest – I don’t know, I haven’t been paying attention”

So basically they told me if I wanted too, I could go in to OB and be put on the monitor or they could see me tomorrow – meaning today. I said no that if I start to bleed or can’t feel the baby I would go to the hospital and I have a regular appointment on Thursday. So there you have it! It was so embarrassing and scary at the same time! I was just so glad that no one saw me go down...it must have been quite hysterical! The pictures don't really do it justice but you get some sort of idea!

We are starting our birthing class tomorrow night. I have my 36 week appointment tomorrow. They will do the strep b test and check to see if I'm dilated. I will try to post something tomorrow night or this weekend about how my doctor's appointment went. Oh and we are NOT closing on Friday. It's a long story...gets my blood boiling...can't talk about it right now...I will tell you later!

xoxo,

Deidra