Nursery Update

We are finally breathing a sigh of relief. All the major baby furniture is here and constructed and the nursery is coming along. Everything else from here on out is cosmetic. A special thanks to Dad San Nicolas for buying the crib for us and Mom & Dad Palmer for the changing table, crib set and the dresser,etc. We couldn't have done it without them. Well, we could have done it with a credit card, but this is better. Tony is leaving on a training exercise this time next week so please pray that I don't go into labor early while he's who knows where. He should only be gone a week but you know Murphy's law! Meanwhile, I am working on some projects and looking forward to my showers that are coming up in the next couple of weeks.

35 Weeks and 5 days

I had an OB-GYN appointment yesterday with Dr Yang. We are now going to start having weekly appointments until the baby is born. I still don't think I'm going to pop prior to March 1st but we shall see. At this point, I am all baby. My stomach is hard as a rock because of the size of this child and I'm at the point where some of my maternity tops ride up. Lovely. I've never shown my midriff in public in my life (my mama raised me right), even when I was a thin teenager, so why does it have to start now?

Anyhow, everything is going well. He went over the info he got back from perinatology and although the baby's kidneys have extra fluid, all other organ systems are working normally and there doesn't seem to be any deformation. All and all it will be just a couple of routine visits to a neo-natal renal specialist. We won't have any reason to be in the NICU or anything though we are still being advised to limit visitation to prevent infection.

Our final CBE class is tonight. I guess we "graduate" or whatever. I read the baby books so there isn't alot of new info that I learned here but maybe it put a permanent stamp on my brain. If nothing else, we got alot of free stuff and coupons so that's a good thing. Tony seems to have learned alot and it has made him more confident with the whole situation. He seems to think he can handle being alone with me for the whole labor experience, however i think my mom will need to be there to relieve him for part of it. Any volunteers to relieve me?

He did stay up most of the night and constructed the crib which came on Tuesday afternoon. I wish he wouldn't have done that on a work night since I still can't get his butt out of bed and its almost 11am. Still that was awfully sweet of him. I'll post pics once I've washed the bedding and put it in the crip. I need to rearrange some furniture to give it a more feng shui appeal.

Changing Table- Check!

I woke up this morning to find that Tony got up early and constructed the changing table. Yay! One less thing to do....

On turning 29...again!

First, I would like to thank all of our friends and family for their calls, cards, emails, myspace comments, etc. When you're 8 months pregnant, and therefore sober, its nice to be thought of in a way that doesn't necessarily revolve around pregnancy. Since Tony had to work today, he took me out last night. We went to Red Lobster where I ate myself comatose. Actually, my eyes were bigger than my stomach (hard to believe, I know) so I brought most of it home. Since the Chargers couldn't seal the deal today, it was a bit of a disappointment but the day got better. Shannen and Maren took me to get a pregnancy massage which was heavenly. I could have stayed there forever...or until my bladder couldn't take it any longer. Then, they treated me to an awesome dinner, when in doubt Mexican food is the way to go! I can't remember the name of the place but Maren suggested it and it was awesome. They also bought me some stuff on my Target registry which was awfully sweet. I feel spoiled, pampered and relaxed.

Chargers Pep Rally

Tony stayed up all night and went to the Scott and BR show live at the House of Blues downtown early Friday morning. He left the house around 4:45 am and went to the festivities. One of his fave bands, Skanic was playing and there were special guests like the SD Chicken, Mayor Sanders and some former Charger players.

An Update on the Mom to be....

OK ok ok. I can take a hint. After 4 emails this morning complaining I don't talk about how I'm doing in the blog, I'm going to kill all the birds with one stone and answer it in the blog. So far to date, I've gained 13 pounds with this pregnancy. Mostly fluid. Besides being swollen, I feel pretty good. I have energetic days and then I have days where all I want to do is lie down. More good days than bad and even with the back pain and swollen extremities, I like being pregnant. I haven't been able to wear my wedding rings since before Christmas so I do feel a little apprehensive at times that people look at me like I'm an unwed mother. Oh well. I do have pregnancy induced carpal tunnel which means my fingers are numb and is why I don't return emails all the time. Then again, I can basically only wear flip flops and tennis shoes. I can wear my Uggs if someone is home to help me pull them up as my ankles have given me Fred Flintstone feet. I am in good health and my body is reacting well to this pregnancy overall. The doctor was apprehensive in the early stages with my blood pressure being so high but amazingly, that went away when I left my job. I do have frequent Braxton-Hicks contractions, which don't bother me unless I'm driving. They seem to really intensify in that position and are quite uncomfortable. The dr suggested that I not get behind the wheel for more than 10 minutes at a time. Yeah, that will happen.

The birthing classes are really good and I'm finding are more designed to the dad's because they are the ones who usually didn't read the baby books. The teacher is nice but she has typical Nazi doula moments at the same time. I had to fill out a survey on my position on the use of drugs in the delivery room and my answer was "yes please". She was not remotely amused by this. As I mentioned in the previous blog, Shannen went with me to the first class. Apparently everything she learned here gave her nightmares. Ha! Tony has been great with everything and he's really taking everything in and learning alot. He may get sent out on a training exercise in February again for a week or so. We won't know until they call him and tell him to get on the plane. At least its early enough in the month that we aren't getting down to the wire.

PartyLite Anaheim Mini-Convention

I got some great decorating ideas as shown in the posters above. I love the Easter ideas!

Week 34 Update and Ultrasounds

On Friday, Tony and I went to see my OB-GYN and our perinatologist. Everything at the OB went well. They took the baby's heartrate and felt around to make sure the baby was head down. So far, so good. After that, we went across the street to the perinatal specialist and we found out that baby's kidneys were still "abnormally dilated". We will have to see a neo-natal kidney specialist after the baby is born as one kidney is larger than the other. Basically it looks like the fluid is partially blocked and we'll have to unblock the ureters. Dr Catanzarite seemed to think that this should not be in any way life altering and there's a good chance we can do this medically, rather than surgically. When we see Dr Yang again next week, we will start talking about neonatologists that he recommends. Again, we will have to limit visitors at the hospital and at home for awhile until we know what's really going on. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND- we have not told our either of our fathers about this in order to prevent undue worry and panic. We won't know more until the birth anyways.

Another cause for concern is the cord is already looped around the baby's neck, but only one time. Apparently, this happens in 25% of delieveries and as long as it is only 1 loop around, there is no additional cause of concern. They were able to narrow down with the infrared to see the blood flow and hear the heart beat through it. All is well there. This child has been kicking the crap out of me so that's a good sign of a healthy baby. Brain and heart functions are excellent.

On 1/3, I started child birth education classes and Aunty Shannen came to the first class with me as Tony couldn't get the night off. Tony went to the 2nd class and was glad he did as he really learned alot. On 1/5, we took a breast feeding course with the lactation specialist at the hospital. It was all stuff I knew and had read about but it taught Tony alot and he was glad he went. We go to the hospital this Saturday for a tour and go back to the OB-GYN on 1/23.

Making Progress

We are happy to report that the cradle mattress has arrived so I got out the wood polish and cleaned up the cradle, so that is set for now. The cradle has been in my family for many years so I'm excited that I get to use it for our baby. Tony also worked until midnight last night putting the dresser together for the nursery. As you can see, we are going with a cherry wood finish and it turned out gorgeous!

The Nursery- BEFORE

I'm posting this for accountability purposes. I'm trying to motivate myself to take all my Christmas decor down so I can move on to the next project- the baby's room. As you can see, it is a good sized room with a cool window seat that my sister in law, Sylvia, has graciously offered to make cushions for. I'm excited to get it done, but I feel like it will be a long journey!