Patriotic Bathing Suits

I remember when I first started water aerobics about 5 months ago that I thought all the women who were far along seemed lazy, and I swore I would still be working really hard when I was that far along. Ha, now that I'm at that point, I'm totally eating my words! It's been a chore to even get into a damn bathing suit! However, it's good that I'm still going and keeping myself busy. Otherwise I know I would be sitting (or putzing) at home just anxious out of my mind... Oh, and there was a guy that got out of the pool last night that looked like Ron Jeremy and had American flag swim trunks on. NO ONE else in my class seemed to notice the hairy back climbing the stairs and the stars and stripes strategically bulging and creeping into nasty places. That's one flag I don't think I could salute...

I stopped at the grocery store after class to pick up a few things, and when I was walking out I got thinking. The air was really "fally" and it was really calm, and I kind of took a few deep breaths. I, by absolutely no means, resent this baby coming and I am so excited to finally meet him or her. However, if you know me, I am a pretty independent person, and I can't lie that I'm nervous about losing some of that independence. Will I be able to just drop everything at the flip of a switch and run out to the store, go for a walk, go rollerblading by the lake anymore? Probably not. And it makes me a little nervous/sad. I've never been one to handle big changes with ease, and this is probably the biggest change of my life to this point. It's hard to imagine being one of only two people in the entire world that this little being is going to be totally dependent on. Will I be up for the task? I think so? People keep telling me that this baby will adapt to the lifestyle that we have, so I hope this little one is ready to take road trips, go to the dog park, listen to loud music of every type, watch the weird TV shows that his/her daddy watches, talk politics, play sports, do scouts... I know we'll adapt to our little one, too-- it's just hard because there's only so much we can do to prepare.

36-37 weeks and Buddy Walk

This was just a really nice weekend. I had a doctor's appointment on Friday morning, and everything looks good. My doctor said I am effaced a tiny bit, but to not expect anything too soon. She said I am measuring well, and the baby's heartbeat sounded fine. So, time to just start twiddling my thumbs and wait...

I got to hang around the house on Friday night and do some major nesting, with my weird dog following me from room to room all evening. He's been acting so strange lately. I'm sure he knows something is up, and he has been very good and sweetly protective of me all the time. When we're at the dog park in the area with the other dogs, he'll just stand right next to me with a big grin on his face and keep his eye on everything going on. He never used to do that before-- frankly, he'd barely listen to me when his "friends" were around. His barking is beginning to get under control, which is a great thing because a.)I don't want any more neighbors pissed at us, b.)No pissy neighbors = no more police at our doorstep, and c.)He will know when to be quiet when the baby comes. So anyways, I cleaned the house for like the 4th time in a week, then vegged until Skip got home from clinicals.

Saturday morning we got up and met with a realtor to see what our options are in regards to maybe maaayyybe buying a house soon, so that was interesting. Still have some more research and thinking to do about all of that, but not until after the baby comes. Then we went to Target and bought a shit-load of baby stuff. We got sheets and a cute crib skirt-- since these days that's pretty much all you need for the crib. No blankets, no bumpers. So we saved some money on that, not to mention the crib skirt matches the colors and wall paint in the baby's room perfectly. We got home, and I took the pup to the dog park for a couple of hours while Skip mowed the lawn and started cooking a chicken on the grill for an early dinner. It turned out really good. After dinner we headed up to Glendale to Oktoberfest to see my tuba-friend Roger play, as well as hang out with some of my Knightwind friends. Note to self: Get a DD next year because both of us will be bombed from the wonderful beer. They had like 15 different Oktoberfest beers, so Skip was happy (I even had a little bit)-- and I also got a brat on a pretzel bun, so I suppose I was satisfied :).

Sunday we slept in and had a leisurely morning, then we went over to the zoo for the annual DSAW Down Syndrome Awareness Walk. We met the whole fam over there in time to start the walk, and it was a good time. I, however, realized that walking causes contractions. At least mild ones. I was a little uncomfortable for the rest of the afternoon because my body was doing all kinds of weird things, so we were starting to prepare ourselves for what could have become a long night... However, after we left Sarah and Andy's, I got home a put my feet up, and everything settled down. I can't lie that I wasn't a little disappointed that nothing happened last night, but at the same time I'm glad because now my maternity leave from work isn't all messed up. I've got it planned down to, essentially, the day, so 3 weeks early would not have gone well with my plan! I didn't sleep too well last night because of the nerves and anticipation that I now totally have more than ever, so I'm a little tired today. However, the weekend overall was very nice, and it was good to see the family yesterday.

Bebes y pinatas

So, I just wanted to write a little about the wonderful baby shower fiesta that was thrown for me today. Steph, Sarah, and Jes planned a whole soiree of Mexican and South American fare, complete with taquitos and a taco bar! We all visited for a while and snacked, and played "pass the babies" with Delanee, Lucas, and Natalie. It was so wonderful to sit back and watch my girlfriends who I knew as kids, essentially, become such wonderful mothers! And to watch all the others step in and take their turns holding and playing with the three of them. It makes me excited to add another one to the bunch! We opened some presents, then ate some more-- SO much food!! Then out came the pinata... Apparently Lindsay had this old pinata that she had gotten as a kid, so they filled it up with authentic Mexican candies, and let me take my shots at it. Well, the only blindfold was a pillow case, which I decided would work best just over my head, so here I was swinging a plastic yellow bat at a pinata hanging 8 feet off the ground-- I think people got some good pics, maybe even a video in there... The damn pinata was SO hard, and I ended up hitting it down from the garage rafter where it was hanging. So we moved it to the end of a shovel, of which Sarah held the opposite end while I continued to swing away. The damn thing STILL wouldn't break! So, I took a metal shovel to it. That broke it! We had some really great laughs pulling it apart the rest of the way, and then Linds finished it off with some deep-seeded childhood beating on the thing. Damn amusing, if you ask me!

We sat down for a while longer outside, and just talked and visited. I'll reiterate again that I was just so happy to sit there and talk with everyone and see everyone all get along so well and be so grown up. Baby Natalie was trying pretty hard to fight sleep and stay up with the party! We moved into the house and continued our conversations, complete with reminiscing from me and the Hams into our amusing high school lives... And a pretty good bashing on some others. Damn we're mean sometimes... But that's what you get with us girls, but we were having fun! The party ended up going until almost 10pm, which was not what I planned, but such a great time nonetheless. I am so appreciative of everything the girls did to celebrate this baby and everything to come in the next month. I really count my blessings every day for the people in my life who I have grown up with and continue to stay close to, and I can't wait for us to keep growing together and making wonderful memories like those today!

Thanks, girls!!

Can you spare a square?

I just took a little trip to the bathroom, as I frequently do these days for obvious reasons. Anyways, I went to the one at the bottom of the stairs to my office, where there are two regular stalls, and one handicapped (on a side note, it's always an experience when I have to use the handicapped one in this particular bathroom. The toilet is really tall and it takes me back to my little-kid days when I would have to practically hop onto the toilet, then my leggies would just dangle. I digress...). I went into the first regular one, and there was a lady in the handicapped one (i.e. a stall between us). I went, and the whole time this other woman is doing what sounds like rolling a stuck roll over and over again to get some paper off-- seriously from the time I got in, went, washed my hands, checked my coif in the mirror, headed to the door... Either that, or she's getting all the paper she needs, and she needed a LOT... I was going to offer to see if she wanted me to hand her some paper, but what am I supposed to say? "Um, excuse me, ma'am? Can I get you some toilet paper, so you don't have to keep abusing the roll in there?" or "Excuse me, ma'am? I can't help but hear you struggling with the toilet paper roll, can I get you some?" I mean, what if she really was not having problems, and all I did was interrupt her business? Who knows, maybe she was out of toilet paper at home and was stocking up. Either way, I hope she got her paper and isn't still sitting on the toity with her little feet just dangling...

My drive in this morning

My drive to work is usually an uneventful 6 minutes through the 'Tosa village. There is always the occasional person in a big hurry so they drive like a maniac, maybe a train going by or a parked delivery truck at one of the restaurants that inevitably messes up the social order, but pretty much the same each day. As was today, though I just had to mention that as I was passing the Harwood-Harmonee-Kavanaugh intersection, there was this person sitting Indian-style on the sidewalk waiting for the bus. She was probably my age, but was very skinny, stringy shoulder-length brown hair, all light blue clothing, big (like Coke-bottle sized) glasses, staring aimlessly into space sucking (literally sucking) on a cigarette. Maybe you had to see it, but it seriously looked like this girl was a character you'd see in Men in Black or something. I just thought it was amusingly disturbing. Ah, the people you see at bus stops in a (semi) urban area...

Labor Day Weekend and Dream 9/8/09

I had a great weekend with Skip and the puppers up in the Algoma area! I got off work early on Friday (a nice surprise!), so we got on the road earlier than we had planned, which was nice. We stopped for dinner on our way up, and got to the house around 7ish. We just kind of vegged for a few hours then went to bed. Saturday morning we got up had a leisurely morning-- I went for a walk down in the town with Scotch, then came back to the house and made lunch. We ended up just getting in the car and driving, which turned out to be great! We hit up an apple orchard and got some goodies, then drove up the "coast" for a little while. We found a great county park where Scotch could get out in the water, then drove up towards Sturgeon Bay for a little while. When we got back into Algoma, we realized the place we wanted to go for dinner Sunday night is closed on Sundays, so we ended up just going there that night. We had a great, cheap dinner, then came back to the house and had a fire. The moon was full and the stars over the lake were awesome!

Sunday we slept in again, then got ready and drove up to Sturgeon Bay again to meet Skip's parents for lunch (they were sailing through SB). We met them, but circumstances didn't quite work out for us to have lunch with them, so they set sail down to Algoma while we went up to Whitefish Dunes State Park. We got to the park, and walked the 3/4 miles to the dog beach. There were so many (friendly) people and dogs there, and the water was great! A little cool, but warm enough to swim in, and Scotch was having a blast! The weather was perfect, and we stayed at the park for about 2 hours. We had such a great time. We packed up and headed out with a very sleepy pup in the back seat, then got back down to Algoma and had dinner with the 'rents. Great pizza. We got back to the house, made another small fire, then crashed again.

Monday we went out for breakfast, then cleaned up the house, hung around for a bit, then came home. We hit some expected traffic in the Milwaukee area, but other than that, it was an easy drive. The whole weekend was just wonderful, and we couldn't have asked for better weather!

Dream: I had a dream that the whole Preston family went to Eddie Martinis (the restaurant I used to work at) for dinner to celebrate my uncle's birthday. Eddie's is a fancy place, just FYI. Well, I was dreading going there because I didn't want to run into anyone that I used to know from working there. We got there, and nothing went smoothly. I don't remember actually eating dinner, but I do remember I was wearing sweatpants and a shirt that I always used to wear when I worked there. One of the waiters dropped my mom's veggies, and picked them up with his hand and set them on her plate. I remember thinking that was SO bad, especially for this particular restaurant. We ordered dessert, and my dad was arguing with me because he said I wanted the "chocolate avalanche" cake all to myself, that's why I ordered it. Then Emily and Allison showed up with a video of Uncle Mike that lasted for like 30 seconds, and we all got ready to leave. Well, the bill was split between my mom and her brothers and sisters, and they each had to pay like $300 (which probably would have been about right for that many people at that restaurant). Certain people were making a stink about it, others were just sucking it up. We ended up busting out of the restaurant, and I was practically running to my car so I wouldn't have to drive anyone home. That was the dream!

Pregnancy Survey

I found this on BabyCenter, but I thought it would give a good perspective on my pregnancy up to this point in time:

Age? 27
Pre-Pregnancy weight? 17 pounds less than right now ;)
Current weight? 17 pounds more than where I started ;)
Is this your first pregnancy? Yes
How far along are you? 33 weeks +2
Do you like being pregnant? For the most part, yes. Especially when Squirrel moves :)
Have you had any morning sickness? A little nausea, but that's it.
Any mood swings? Mood swings? God no... ha...
Do you feel you have a stronger sense of smell? Eew, YES.
Have any swelling? A little in my calves and feet off and on.
Have you had any aches or pains yet? Yes, my hips and... um... let's just say some "spreading" is starting...
Favorite maternity outfit? Anything stretchy!
Have you bought anything for baby yet? Tonight we're getting our crib!
Are you excited? Of course!

Due date? 10/19/2009
When did you find out you were pregnant? February
Who was with you? Scotch, and my last beer :(
Were you trying to get pregnant? Yep.
Do you have a guess when and where your baby was conceived? I can pinpoint it to one or two days back there...
How far along were you when you found out? About 4 weeks.
What kind of pregnancy test did you take? First Response, then one Skip yoinked from Sinai.
How many tests did you take? See above.
What was your first reaction? Not convinced... (the line was SO faint)
What was your partner's first reaction? "We're going to have a baby?!"
Who did you tell first? Skip, Melissa, Sarison
What were your parent's reaction? Ecstatic!
Would you ever consider having an abortion? No.
Who is you doctor? Vanessa Barnabei at Froedtert/MCW.
Have you heard the baby's heartbeat? Every visit.
Have you had any ultrasounds? Just one at ~20 weeks.
Will you have any 3D/4D ultrasounds? Nope, not unless there's a medical need for one.
Have you had any complications with this pregnancy? No, thank God, and knock on wood.
Are you high risk? No.
Girl, boy, or surprise? Surprise!
Have you picked out any names yet? Boy: Preston Charles. Girl: Claire Rosemarie
What is something you eat almost everyday? Fruit!
Do you have any pregnant friends? Sarison, for a while my other friend/neighbor Sarah was, Andy Harrison's sis, my sister-in-law-- TONS!
Have you felt any movement yet? All the time!
Has your partner felt any movement yet? All the time!
Do you or your partner talk to baby? Yes, and Skip plays guitar for him/her, too :)
When did you really start to show? Mmm, maybe about 2 months ago.
Have any stretch marks? Knock on wood, NO.
How well have you been sleeping? Between peeing trips, okay for now. Getting less and less as the days go on.
Any strange dreams? Almost every night. See other posts!
Have you had any Braxton Hicks contractions yet? Maybe a few each week for the past couple.

Any baby shower plans? One last weekend, another on the 19th of September.
Have you registered any where? Target and Babies-R-Us.
What was the first thing bought for baby? A onesie from Dwyers :) Still hanging on the back of the bathroom door, ready to go :)
Are you going to take any birthing classes? Just finished them up last night.
Are you reading any pregnancy, baby, childcare books? The Vaccine Book, and a few others.
Has anyone said anything unusual to you since you've been pregnant? Luckily, not really.
What is the best part about being pregnant? Knowing what the end result is!
What is the worst part? Body changes, realizing I can't do a lot of things I could do before.
What are you most nervous about?Being a good parent.

Birth Plans:
At home or at a hospital? Hospital
Vaginal or C-section? Vaginal if all goes well...
Natural or medicated? Hopefully natural...
Will you be induced?Not unless it becomes medically necessary.
Who will be in the delivery room with you? Skip, Mom and Sarison
What couple of things will you be sure to have with you? Not sure, but at least the little "Scotch" Skip got for me :)
What do you think will annoy you during labor? Possibility of nurses/docs pushing meds on me.
Are you going to take pictures? Me? Hell no. Maybe Mom or Sarah will.
Will dad cut the cord? Yes.
Are you scared? A little bit.
What are you most scared about? Tearing, bleeding out like Sarah...

When the baby is here:
What is the baby's coming home outfit? Haven't gotten it yet!
Will you come home as soon as you can? As soon as I'm ready and they let me.
What is the best thing about coming home? Starting our new family at home!
What is the nursery's theme? Eh, browns, greens and reds (like the Kandinsky painting called Farbstudie Quadrate, the one with all the circles)-- if the store still has what we want!
Will you breastfeed or formula feed? Hope to breast feed, if all goes well!
Will you co-sleep? Not anything besides maybe short naps. It's not safe.