Welcome!

Oliver Lucian, just after he was born on 9-6-06
 

The show...

Ok so here's what happened. Saturday at work the store ordered KFC and I ate some. I knew I shouldn't have, it was greasy, but I was hungry. After work we went out with Kyle and Cindy to a Chinese buffet. I didn't eat anything odd there, so I don't blame them for what happened next. All that night I felt bloated, like I had gas or needed to go to the bathroom, but when I did nothing happened. Sunday I didn't have to work so Bob and I spent the day doing some stuff and lounging around the house. I still felt horrible. Monday I went to work, even though when I got up I felt worse than ever, and it was our 2 year wedding anniversary. Bob told me to call out, but I went in anyway. The day was pretty unbusy, so I just sat in a corner doing almost nothing and moving as little as possible. At about 1 my inlaws stopped by on their way back from WV and took us to lunch. We had a pretty good time with them, although the service at Ruby Tuesday was lacking. After I got back to work I still felt pretty bad so I did some busy work that I do for the manager every month. When I was finished I was going to hand out the finished product to the salespeople, but stopped by the bathroom first. To my dismay, I had a little bit of blood on the TP! I started to get nervous, so I called Bob and he told me to come on home. I talked to my mgr and she said it would be ok so off I went. I spent the rest of the night calling people and trying to figure out if this was something I needed to really worry about or not. I laid on the couch and drank lots of water. Bob made me some yummy spaghetti for dinner. We went to bed fairly early and I slept really well! I only got up 4 times. I didn't end up calling the birth center until Tuesday morning though. They very calmly told me that it was probably just the mucous plug and that I could go about life as usual. Well, that was a relief! I still felt miserable most of the morning, but after I took a nap I felt better. Not great, but better. So I've been reading up on the mucous plug and apparently I could go into labor ANYTIME! I'M NOT READY!!!
So, if anyone can help me out...I need to know what else I absolutely MUST have when the baby comes home. I have a bassinet and a crib, I have a car seat, i have plenty of clothes and blankets and diapers. What else do I need?!?!?

Asheville shower

Here is a group picture of everyone at the Asheville shower. From left to right: Rachael, Dave, Bob, me, Dale, Mom, Delilah, Sarah, Aunt Sandy, and Gramma
 

belly picture

Here is a picture of my belly, taken August 20th at the shower in Asheville.
 

houses...

we went yesterday with our real estate agent to look at some houses. We only looked at 3, but we eliminated 2 of them pretty quickly. The first one looked like it was from the 60's and looked haunted too. The second one was pretty good. Right now a little old couple lives there, and they smoke so it stinks. The carpet is teal. Other than that everything looked good. The rooms were decent sizes, there are 1.5 bathrooms, the kitchen had a fair amount of counter space. Plus it's a 3 bedroom which means that we won't have to put the computer in the bedroom! It had a big fenced in back yard for Jasper too. The third house we looked at was horrible. The carpet had holes in it, as did the walls. The pool (which we didn't really want) was NASTY. The master bath had a shower with no door. The rooms were huge though, and the kitchen was, too. If it wasn't so torn up we would have liked it a lot. So anyway, we like our realtor. He was really honest about the places we looked at. He even showed me how to make sure the bathrooms were ok (check the pipes, toilet, shower, etc). He gave us a list of other houses he thinks we might like so I'm going to try to check those out on listing book later today.

Our 2 year anniversary is coming up in a few days! I'm so excited!!! Since it's labor day this year I'll have to work! I think I have Tuesday off though, and so does Bob so we can just celebrate then for the whole entire day. I don't know what we're going to do, but I'm sure it will be fun.

getting ready

We had another dr's appt yesterday. Everything was normal, as usual. Blood pressure was excellent, raisin's heartbeat was strong, nothing out of the ordinary. They asked about our birth plan, which I have mostly together but have to put the finishing touches on. Next week I'll have my Group B Strep test so I'll know when I get the results if I have to go to the hospital or if I get to stay at the Birth Center. I've mostly packed my bag, the only thing it still needs are some snacks and a few other things.

My next appointment is the 8th, then it's once a week after that. We have a few more birth classes then we're done with that, too. Of course, that means we'll be that much closer to actually having the baby.

I've started getting swollen ankles...oh how I dreaded getting the cankles!...it's not pleasant. I can't sit in one position for very long without hurting when I move. My ankles and knees feel sore. Someone at work today told me that my face looks puffy. :(

We went yesterday and talked to a realtor. He's taking us to look inside some houses on Thursday. We are a little more excited now. I guess we need to get things moving though, we only have 6 weeks until the raisin is due, and only 5 until our lease is up here at the apartment. Of course, they did say we could extend it month to month if we need to, but they raise the rate by $100 if we do that!

Bob is still looking for another job. He got offered a job with FedEx, but they keep dragging their feet so I guess it's back to the drawing board. He said something about a night auditor position at Holiday Inn today. It might not be the greatest because it's third shift, but he already knows how to do it. I think he should go ahead and apply and keep his options open as well.

I've been looking into Medical Transcription. You can learn it in as little as 4 months, and you can work from home. I'm not sure how that works, but I'd like to work from home and I'm pretty sure that I'd learn it pretty quickly. They give you up to a year though. If I can make as much as they say that I can then Bob won't have to work two jobs for very long.

this weekend...

What a hectic weekend we had! I worked until 9 on Friday, then had to go to K-Mart to exchange the oil filter for the Galoot since I got the wrong size. We had to change the oil in the Galoot because we had a lot of driving planned for the next few days. Once we got home from that it was already late and Bob had to finish changing the oil and put on the new battery connecter thingy since the other one broke when he was trying to clean off all the corrosion. By the time we got to bed it was around midnight. I was exhausted, and wasn't feeling very well either. In fact, I was downright miserable and feeling like I might throw up. Luckily after a few Rolaids and some Popsicles I was able to get to sleep.
Morning came really early, and though we had planned to leave around 8 or 8:30 we ended up leaving around 9:45. We drove for 4 hours, with only 1 stop, I think...maybe 2. It wasn't a bad ride, and I didn't end up sleeping during any of it. When we got to WV we went straight to the WV state fair, which just so happens to be in Lewisburg. The first place we went was in the craft building. There are always so many neat things in there. Bob took a picture of a huge pumpkin on his phone; I'll try to post it later. There were quilts and clothes and things that people had made too. As we were walking around we were looking for the afghan that Mammaw made for Bob since she said she was going to enter it. We finally found it on the top tier of about the 3rd row we walked down. To our suprise there was a first place ribbon hanging from it!! We were very impressed, and Bob even got a little misty. Anyway, then we walked around looking at the animals and enjoying the general atmosphere of the fair. I got some cotton candy and we had a fabulous smoothie. Bob got me a charm for my necklace (a turtle made from multicoloured tiger's eye) Bob had a grape snowcone while I drank a delicious bottle of water. We hung around there for about 3 hours, which was really fun, but really hot! After we left there we went to the first shower of the weekend. We hung out with Cheryl, Kelsie, Jordyn, Angie, Ethan, Timothy, Mammaw, Bob Sr, Dolly, Ladona, Amaya, Morgan, Birch, Gretchen, Indigo, Chris, and Kate and Kerrigan (who came all the way from Montana!). There were some games and some fabulous food!! I can't wait to post pictures of the game the guys played. I didn't bring the camera so I don't have any, and the story isn't the same unless you can see it. Anyway, we had a fabulous time with all of them. By the time it was over I was so tired I could barely stand it. Since Kate was in town and he hardly ever gets to see her, Bob wanted to go to dinner with her and Chris. We went to a Mexican restaurant and ate until we were all stuffed...Chris even ordered some fried ice cream, which we all shared. After that Chris and Kate and Kerrigan went back to Chris's house, and Bob and I went to Birch's. We hung out with Gretchen and her sister, and I got to ask a lot of questions about pregnancy and labor. I was very excited to talk to Gretchen since she had a very similar birth to what I would like to have. She said I should definitely get the Group B Strep test, it was one of the few she actually had. That made up my mind even more than anything else probably would have. We talked about plans for after the baby and she gave me some tips...Indigo is about 6 months so I'm sure it's all very fresh in her mind. We went to bed at about 10:30...I could barely keep my eyes open.
We had plans to leave there around 10, but that didn't work out. Bob woke me up and said that he and the guys were going to go for a walk, so I stayed in bed for a little longer. When I went down Gretchen and her sister (Tracy?) were starting to make breakfast. I hung out in the kitchen with them for a while, then I started to feel not very well. I went back up to the bedroom and laid down...the next thing I knew Bob was waking me up telling me that we needed to get moving! I felt a little better, so I got up and packed up our stuff. Bob decided that even though it was almost 10 that we should have breakfast before we left. I was very glad he decided that. There were apple pancakes, sausage, bacon, and a frittata. I only had 1 pancake and 3 sausages, but it was so good! I did try a little bit of the frittata (which was egg with tomato, onion, mushrooms). Everything tasted so good, and the conversation was fabulous. Pretty soon we realized that it was 11:30!!!! We grabbed the last of our stuff and headed out the door.
Bob had his laptop so we mapped our route to Rachael's house with it and off we headed down the mountains. It rained a lot and we had to make a few more pit stops than we anticipated, but we were only a little bit late for the Asheville shower. It was supposed to be at 4:30, we got there at almost 5. (sorry, Rach) Anyway, when we got there Bob and Dave went off to do guy things while us girls (Rachael, Mama, Sarah, Gramma, and Aunt Sandy) got down to eating some delicious stuff. Mama had made mini chicken enchiladas (my recipe), and there were frozen chocolate covered strawberries and bananas, chips and salsa, cocktail weenies, caramel apples, cookies shaped like baby carriages, and a big cake. Oh yeah, and some delicious punch. Anyway we ate and chatted and stuff, then we played some games. Rachael had come up with some seriously funny games, and great prizes! I'll have to describe them later because I'm getting tired and this post is really long! Anyway, after a while we finished the games and food and Bob and Dave came back. We hung out for a little while longer, but then it was time to go. We drove the 3 hours back to Greensboro, getting home at just about midnight. I was so tired that I just went straight to bed. I slept until almost 11, which was pure bliss. I haven't slept like that for so long.
Monday we spent the day driving around and looking at houses. We started with a list of 18 and got it down to 2. Of course, that's just the ones in Greensboro...we still have Winston, High Point, Eden, King, Reidsville, etc etc...but at least we narrowed it down some. When we got home we just layed around like bums for a while, then we packed some boxes. That's right, even though we don't have to move for another month and a half we started packing. We figure it's a good idea to get ahead that way if the raisin comes early or something then we won't have to panic and rush and exhaust ourselves.

Group B strep test

Most of this post is copied and pasted from other places. I've put all my comments in italics. I'm still undecided whether I will have the test or not.

About 40% of adults are carriers of Group B Streptococcum (GBS) in their genital or intestinal tracts. Usually, GBS doesn't cause problems. In fact, in most healthy adults it is considered a "normal" organism, and treatment with antibiotics is not given. It does have significance for the pregnant woman, however. GBS, which can be passed from mother to baby during childbirth, is the leading cause of newborn sepsis--serious infection throughout the baby's body soon after birth.
A specific combination of factors seems to be at work in babies who develop GBS disease. It is most likely to develop in babies whose mothers are carriers of GBS and who have one or more clinical risk factors. In these babies, who are at the highest possible risk for GBS disease, about five out of 100 will develop it. Babies whose mothers are GBS carriers but have no clinical risk factors are less likely to develop GBS disease: about one in 200 babies will get GBS disease. Those whose mothers have clinical risk factors but test negative for GBS are even less likely to develop GBS disease--about 1 in 1000--and those whose mothers have neither risk factors nor a positive GBS culture have a very small chance of getting GBS disease--about 1 in 3000.
Clinical Risk Factors for Developing GBS Disease:Prenatal risk factors: Previous baby with GBS disease; urinary tract infection with GBS at any time during this pregnancyLabor-related risk factors: Onset of labor before 37 weeks, rupture of membranes before 37 weeks; rupture of membranes more than 18 hours before birth; fever over 100.4 degrees during labor.
Researchers conducted a review of infants who had early-onset group B streptococcal (EOGBS) infections and were born in Southern California Kaiser Permanente Hospitals from 1988 through 1996. To summarize:
*319 infants with EOGBS sepsis, bacteremia, or clinically suspected infection were identified from a population of 277,912 live births (approximately 1 in every 870 births).*Of the 172 term infants with culture-positive infection who had clinical signs of infection, 95% exhibited them in the first 24 hours of life.*All of the infants exposed to antibiotics during birth became ill within the first 24 hours of life.
Researchers concluded that "exposure to antibiotics during labor did not change the clinical spectrum of disease or the onset of clinical signs of infection within 24 hours of birth for term infants with EOGBS infection."
(from http://www.midwiferytoday.com/enews/enews0337.asp )

Because women who carry GBS but do not develop any of these three complications have a relatively low risk of delivering an infant with GBS disease, the decision to take antibiotics during labor should balance risks and benefits. Penicillin is very effective at preventing GBS disease in the newborn and is generally safe. A GBS carrier with none of the conditions above has the following risks:
* 1 in 200 chance of delivering a baby with GBS disease if antibiotics are not given
* 1 in 4000 chance of delivering a baby with GBS disease if antibiotics are given
* 1 in 10 chance, or lower, of experiencing a mild allergic reaction to penicillin (such as rash)
* 1 in 10, 000 chance of developing a severe allergic reaction--anaphylaxis--to penicillin. Anaphylaxis requires emergency treatment and can be life-threatening.

the bacteria can come and go, so the test isn't always a reliable indicator of who will have GBS on delivery day. And since results aren't available for a few days, testing during labor isn't possible. (*Why do it if you are not sure if the results will still be acurate?)
Some doctors only screen patients who have a history of urinary tract infections, a fever near delivery time, or who have had a GBS baby. (*I have none of these things*)
GBS is easily treated with antibiotics, so call your doctor if your baby has symptoms such as uncontrollable crying, poor feeding, fever, grunting, or blue skin. (Late-onset GBS, which develops after the first week, may also cause vomiting.)

Apparently you can test positive, but then do it again later and be negative. I don't think the test is very reliable. However, I don't want anything to happen to the poor innocent raisin either.

If I get nervous

I have found that when I start feeling nervous about labor or taking care of the new baby that all I have to do is read some blogs. That's right! Read blogs. I have a few favorites at Babes in Blogland that I read regularly, and some that I read periodically. Seems like everyone has the same fears/concerns/worries that I do. That makes me feel better!

We had another appointment today at the Birth Center. She measured me and took my blood pressure and such, the usual things. Everything was normal. The raisin's heartbeat was normal. She felt around and found out that he is in the head down position now, with his back along my left side. That explains why almost all the movement is on my right...he's got arms and legs flailing over there! The midwife (who was very nice and informative, as I will discuss later) said that is the best position for him to be in for the easiest birth. Hooray! The raisin is already smart!

I asked the (very helpful, informative) midwife about the achy/crampy feeling I've been having lately. First let me tell you, it is very hard to explain what it feels like...it's not like "the cramps" but it's like the feeling I get the few days before my period starts, like pre-cramps...anyway, it happened every night for a few days so I was worried. She said that as long as it isn't intermitent cramps then I should be ok. So as long as it stays a constant ache then it's normal. Also, I do some labwork every appointment. I have to pee in a cup and swish this little paper sticky thing around in it and then record the results. Anyway, for the last 3 appointments I've had elevated leukocytes. I asked about this, because it doesn't seem normal to me. She asked if I had any pain or burning when I pee, to which I answered (honestly) that no I didn't. She then said that sometimes the elevated leukocytes are a sign of a bladder infection, but if there were no symptoms then it was probably just a contaminated sample or some such thing and not to worry.

She said that sometime in the next 2 weeks I need to decide if I want to have the Strep B test. She said that it will find out if there are nasty little bacteria waiting to attack the raisin when he comes out. If you do have it then they give you antibiotics while you are in labor, which SHOULD prevent anything happening to the baby. She also said that if the test is positive then I won't be able to have the baby at the birth center. It isn't a required test, so I'm not sure if I will do it yet. Apparently the results of the infection if the baby does pick it up are quite serious, but only a few women carry it (10 - 30%), and only .5% of them have babies who get the infection. It sounds like a super small percentage to me, but I'm going to do plenty of research before I decide one way or the other.

getting motivated...

I'm having trouble keeping my house clean and getting things done. I just feel so tired all the time and when I get home from work I just want to go to sleep. On top of that we've been driving all over looking at houses. We've also been collecting boxes so we can start packing up stuff we don't need, but so far all the boxes are just stacked up with nothing in them. I made myself a to-do list, and I've done a few things on it, but it seems like there's never enough time to get anything done. Today, for example. Bob set the alarm for me to get up at 9. I hit the snooze until 9:30 because I didn't sleep very well last night. I have to be at work at 11, so that leaves me, from now, 45 minutes to get ready. Getting ready will take ALL that time. I still have to make myself a lunch and shower and get dressed and take the dog out, none of which are on my list. When I get home, shortly after 7, we are going to look at some houses before it gets dark, and then possibly have a date. By the time we get home it will be time for bed and then I have to get up tomorrow and do it all over again. I wish some of these things were things I could do from work.

I'm so lucky!!

I've been reading a lot of blogs and such lately, and I'm realizing more and more just how lucky I am.
For one thing, I got pregnant easily. By easily I mean "oops! We weren't planning this!!" I don't think I was ever really aware of how hard some people TRY to get pregnant. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn't...sometimes it just takes a really long time and a lot of struggles. I kind of just walked into it when I wasn't expecting it or (GASP) wanting it. I knew we'd have kids one day, I just didn't think it'd be so soon.
The other thing is that my husband is so supportive and understanding, and he's AROUND. He didn't get scared and run off when we found out. (not that I expected him to) He's been involved in every step, been to every doctors appointment. He reads to the raisin, and makes sure I eat right and take my vitamins. We exercise together at the pool, even though he HATES the pool. He makes me feel better when I'm sad or worried or sick. I think he even likes shopping for baby stuff as much as I do.
Also, we have a healthy baby. He's got all his parts, he's active, he's not too small, and he's caused me almost no trouble. (unless you count heartburn ALL THE TIME). We've had no worries of miscarriage or premature birth, no diabetes, no bleeding or cramping.
Another thing, we have lots of friends and family who have given us baby gifts and offered to stay with us once the raisin is born. They keep in touch so they know how we are all doing. They come to see us, even though it's a long drive and gas is expensive and they have to work the next day.
All together, I would have to say that I'm pretty much the luckiest pregnant woman ever.

birth plan...

I've been trying to work on my birth plan, in addition to trying to find a house and take care of the hubby and the puppy. So far, I've done pretty well with it, I think. I made a basic outline with some help from http://www.childbirth.org/interactive/ibirthplan.html
We have 5 more weeks of birth class before we HAVE to turn it in, so hopefully I can fill in some of the smaller details with the information I get from there. The first class was kind of fun. We learned some relaxation techniques, and watched a video of a birth. EW! I don't recommend watching those if you don't have to!
Bob said today that we need to start packing my bag, too. I have a list of what to put in it, but I can't imagine actually having it packed. It's only about 10 weeks away though, so I guess I need to be ready.

oh no!

I was in the shower, enjoying the nice warm water running down my back when I happened to look down and realized...I CAN'T SEE MY FEET! That's right, I look down and all that's there is a big giant round belly. I was very suprised at first, even though I figured this would happen at some point...then I was excited. I have a big belly! I've been reading some other blogs, and people talk about the moment they realized they were pregnant. Well, I suppose that was it for me. Yeah, I know it's weird.

get it together!

After baby shower #1, the house has been invaded by baby things. They are everywhere!! I made an attempt to get things organized yesterday. I took the tags off all the clothes and put them in the very cute hamper we got so I could wash them all. I also took most everything else out of the packaging and put it in a big tupperware container. I'm planning to start packing up stuff we don't need pretty soon so that when it comes time to move I won't be in a rush. We have an appointment tomorrow to go look at the house we like the best. We are planning to drive by a few others today to see if they are in decent shape outside and in not scary neighborhoods. We only have until the end of September before our lease is up, so we're trying to move before then.

soccer

yep, soccer. That's what the rasin will be playing when he gets older. He's so active! Sometimes I just sit and watch my belly twitch and move around. Sometimes he hits me so hard that it feels like his little arm or leg is going to come right through my belly! I can tell the difference between a kick and a roll, too. When he rolls it feels really weird.

I had a dream the other night that my belly was silver, kind of like mercury. I was looking down at it and I could see the raisin's open hand come out (still covered up with mercury belly) and then it closed. How weird is that?

the raisin's shower

Here are some pictures from the raisin's shower. The theme was duckies, in case you couldn't tell. We had lots of fun playing games and decorating onsies. I'm glad everyone could come (even if they had to leave early, or came late). I had a wonderful time and I hope everyone else did, too!

 

onsie...

This is the onsie that Jason made...I put it by itself because I wanted to show the front and back.
 

onsies...

These are the onsies that were decorated for the raisin at the shower. From top left they were made by: Kyle and Cindy, Karie, Brenda, Dolly, me, my mom, Jaimee, and Rachael. (Kyle and Cindy's got duplicated) I think we all had fun...I know I did.
 

changing...

I'd like to change the look of my blog, but i can't figure out how to do it. Can anyone help me out with that?

We have a visitor! Jason got here last night (LATE), and he's staying until Monday or Tuesday. (hopefully Tuesday) I'm not sure what Bob is planning to do with him for all that time, but I'm sure they will have a grand time...maybe they'll let me join them when I'm not working. Anyway, we are both very excited to have him visit. (In case you don't remember/know who Jason is, he was in our wedding...he's the science teacher)

Dr's appt

I had another dr's appt today. Everything was normal. my belly is 92cm now. From now on my appts will be 2 weeks apart instead of 4.

My baby shower is in a few days (3 to be exact).