Week 33 (2/20/10 – 2/26/10)

Sign of the Week, “excuse me.”

On Saturday Eric and I attended our “Comfort Measures and Relaxation” class. In this class we learned a lot of breathing techniques, comfort positions, and relaxation methods to get through contractions. Eric was a great “labor support” (as they call dads in the class) rubbing my back and massaging my hands. My favorite technique was called the, “slow dance” position. (You know…anything DANCE is right up my alley!) Throughout the class I felt like I should be doing some of the methods on Eric since he is still having back and leg pains. (Eric says he’s carrying the load of pain now because he knows that I’ll be in pain soon.) In one of our methods we had to practice moving our hips to spell out the letters in our baby’s name. Since we don’t have a name yet we spelled out “Baby Thames.”

After class we went to Surf Rider to eat for Mr. Thames’ birthday. A lot of my family came up to celebrate with him and that was very nice. After dinner Eric and Aaron went off for a little while to celebrate a friend’s birthday. I decided to stay home and rest since my cold was still acting up. Eric took updated “Baby Bump” photos before he left.

On Sunday Aunt Loretta and I went to church. Then my Aunt Bobby, Linda, Kent, and Bonnie came over. They brought my Great-Granny’s rocking chair over that I had mentioned about in the Week 28 posting. I am so excited about the chair. It’s comfy (low to the ground-for my short legs), soft, and perfect for rocking a baby! The rocking chair was upholstered with rose colored fabric by my uncle many years ago because my Granny’s favorite color was pink. My Uncle Brad very graciously wanted to recover the chair for me this time. I certainly love the pink because it reminds me so much of Granny but a more neutral fabric would also be nice for the nursery. Linda also brought over a bear that she said occupied the chair while it was at her house! We had a nice visit together and Quila enjoyed sitting in Bonnie’s lap!

On Monday night Baba, Mrs. Thames, and Penny came over to visit. While they visited I made Mini Pecan Pie Muffins to take to our last Childbirth class on Tuesday. I figured since we had shared so much with this group of people and had spent nearly a month getting to know them the least I could do was give out goodies!

On Tuesday after school I went down to my Uncle Brad’s shop in Downtown Norfolk, Guy’s Upholstery, to take the rocking chair. My Aunt Caroline had already done a lot of work pulling up my registry and gathering swatches of various fabrics for me to look at. She did a fantastic job giving me options that both matched the nursery colors and ones that were more neutral. I enjoyed looking through all of the rich fabrics that they have to offer. We finally narrowed it down to an awesome textured fabric that has a tan background (close to the paint color) and raised ivory/light yellow dots. I have always been a polka-dot girl so I was very pleased with my choice! Aunt Caroline and I both agreed that this one was our favorite. Thank you Uncle Brad and Aunt Caroline for everything!

Later that night Eric and I went to our final Childbirth class. I passed out my goodies to the group and they like them. We had a couple come in as guests to tell us their Birth Story. When the girl walked in I recognized her right away. She had actually done her student teaching at my school and remembered me as well. I was happy to catch up with her again and find out how she was doing. Her daughter was really cute. At the end of class we took some pictures of the entire group including our awesome instructor. We also took a mommies photo! We are hoping that all the mommies can get together some time in the summer to have our babies meet each other. That will be nice. It was kind of sad that the class was over because we had really enjoyed it.

On Wednesday after school I went to a doctor’s appointment. I had gained 2 pounds since my last appointment. I did not see Dr. Morgan this time but rather a Nurse Practitioner who was very nice. She was took the time to talk with me for a while about birthing classes and breastfeeding. She listened to Baby Thames’ heartbeat and showed it to me on her machine. She said that the heartbeat sounded great and she even got to monitor the heart rate during some fetal movement as Baby Thames gave a good move. His/her heart rate went up and down as it was supposed to during the movement. She also measured my stomach and told me that I was 31 cm. Since I am in my 32nd week I should have measured 32 cm but she said that anything within +2 or -2 is normal. She gave me a suggestion of a book I should purchase and I was on my way. I’m always grateful for easy, normal check-ups! After the doctor I went to my hair appointment at Sallie’s.

Today was the first day I noticed my feet swelling. When I got home later that night and finally took off my shoes my feet were swollen some. I had already noticed that my ankles were a little bigger because I have seen “sock lines” with socks that normally don’t give me lines. I guess I will need to force myself to find more opportunities to sit during the day.

On Thursday after school I went shopping for an outfit for my shower. I found some great dresses on sale, (none of them maternity by the way). After that I went to Aunt Loretta’s for Family Night. My feet were swollen again this night as well.

On Friday after school I went and picked up Mrs. Thames. I had heard about a Baby Expo that they were having at the Virginia Beach Convention Center and I wanted to check it out. She went with me and we saw some beautiful clothes. We didn’t buy anything because not much of it was gender neutral. But, I decided I would definitely come back when they had it again to buy some of the cute outfits. Then we went to the mall so that I could fine some maternity hose to wear with my dress. Next we went to the craft store and I bought some cute Thank You cards that match the theme of the shower for Eric’s side that is coming up soon.

My feet were not swollen tonight however I still feel bad from my cold. I have had a cold for over a week and can’t shake it. I guess that’s what happens when you can’t take anything. I feel really bad in the morning and at night but not so much during the day. I have been coughing so much though that my stomach muscles are sore. I told Eric that our poor baby can’t even get any rest because I keep waking him/her up. Every time that I cough I feel fetal movement…I feel so bad that I keep disturbing baby’s slumber. I hope to get better soon.

Week 32 (2/13/10 – 2/19/10)

Sign of the Week, “I Love You.”

I decided that the “Sign of the Week” needed to be “I Love You” this week since it was Valentine’s Day. This sign has special significance to me. When I was very young my dad began signing this to me before we left one another at any location. Not only did we do the sign normally but we also did it in a circular motion signifying that we “loved each other more than anyone in the whole world.” It was our special way of communicating to one another. We still sign this to one another when we are parting ways and my dad always signs all of his cards to me with the same message. Also when my little cousin, Chase, was in preschool he attended the school where I teach. I taught him the “I Love You” sign so that when he passed me in the hallway or saw me in a part of the school he could sign to me and I could sign back. When he first began preschool he would jump out of line in the hallway and run over to hug me. I taught this sign to him as a way for him to know that I loved him even when I saw him from a distance and that he didn’t necessarily need my “physical attention” to know that I cared about him at that same moment. It was our “secret sign” throughout the school!

Speaking of Chase, we celebrated his 7th birthday on Saturday at the bowling alley. Eric of course could not come to the party because he was laid up in bed so Mrs. Thames and I rode together. Eric and I gave Chase a Mancala game and Legos for his birthday since that is what he always plays when he comes to our house. He had a good time bowling with all of his friends. When we left the party Mrs. Thames and I went to a craft show where a few of her friends were selling their products. We walked around for a bit and I picked up lots of business cards from vendors. Since I don’t know the sex of the baby yet I can’t buy a whole lot of things. So instead I get business cards and write down the items that I liked on the back of the card. When Baby Thames gets here I can contact those people to buy some of the things I liked in the appropriate colors.
It also snowed today, again. Eric and I have been joking around saying that Baby Thames will probably be 10 years old before he/she sees snow since so much of it is happening this year and it usually doesn’t come around like this in our area except for about every 10 years!

Later that night Eric was feeling just a little better. He felt like he wanted to get out so we went to dinner (a pre-Valentine’s dinner) with our friends. We also came back to our house to hang out for a bit and watch some of the Olympics before they went home.

On Sunday it was Valentine’s Day. I got up and went to church while Eric slept. We had already planned to go down to my grandparents’ house to do our taxes this day so I went ahead and went without Eric. Our weekends from now until the baby comes are pretty filled up so we figured we had better go ahead and get it done. Also since Baby Thames is due to arrive 1 day after Tax Day we didn’t want to get down to crunch time and have a lot going on. I hated to leave my Valentine at home but he was still in some pain and needed to rest. So, Quila and I drove to Sandbridge and spent the afternoon with Mom-Mom and Dad-Dad. Mom-Mom took a picture of Quila and I in our matching pink sweaters for Valentine’s Day. If you think this is bad imagine what I’ll be like if I have a little girl! Dad-Dad and I got the taxes done and we all had lunch together before I went home. When I got home Eric was still resting and so Quila and I rested with him. It was a quiet, but nice Valentine’s Day. Even with Eric still in an uncomfortable state he managed to read Baby Thames a Valentine’s story that night before bed. This was the highlight of my Valentine’s Day…my sweetheart, my unborn child, my dog, and I all snuggled up in bed reading, “The Valentine Bears.” Flowers, candy, or extravagant presents could never measure up to this!

On Monday was President’s Day and we had to go to school due to a make-up from the snow. When I left school I went to the mall. I officially had to break down and buy some maternity pants for work. Up until now I have used the Belly Band and my normal pants…just not buttoned. I can still use my own pants but it is starting to become more and more uncomfortable. I found 4 great pairs of maternity pants that I can wear to work that are super comfy! I also found some tops to wear (some maternity, some not). I had fun shopping. When Eric got off of work he had to go see a UPS doctor. He needed to be cleared to go back to work on Tuesday from his back injury.

On Tuesday Eric was sent home from work on short-term disability. His boss and other human resource personnel decided that he needed to be at home rather than at work with his back condition. He also started his physical therapy today. He is attending therapy at the same place where my cousin Amber works. He will be going 2 times a week for at least a month to try to get relief of his back and leg pain. Later that night we attended Part 3 of our “Childbirth Education” class. We watched another video and talked about writing a Birthing Plan. We also went on a tour of the hospital. This is not the hospital that Eric and I are delivering at but we went along for the tour anyway to hear the valuable information that was to offer.

For Ash Wednesday our family has a little tradition of meeting up to eat our 1 meal at Long John Silvers and then go to the Ash Wednesday service. This year, for the first time, I chose the 2 small meals option so that poor Baby Thames didn’t have to starve all day. After school I met my family to eat before attending Mass. This year I had a hard time figuring out what to give up for Lent. I decided (kind-of selfishly) that I would not give up anything food related since I was going to be having showers all through Lent. I thought that it might be rude to not eat some of the foods at my own shower when the hostesses had fixed them. I didn’t want to give up desserts for example and then not be able to eat my own Baby Shower cakes. Figuring out what to give up is not always an easy task! After Mass we all went to a viewing for a close friend of the family. Later that night I started coming down with a cold. I have been very fortunate throughout my pregnancy to not get a lot of the colds that my students pass around the classroom. It’s hard having a cold when you can’t take anything to make you feel better and you already have “troubled breathing patterns” when you’re pregnant. I hope to get over it soon.

On Thursday Eric and I attended a “Baby and Dog” class. The class was FANTASTIC. We learned a lot of valuable information about what to do with your dog: 1) before baby comes 2) when baby arrives 3) when baby becomes mobile! Eric recognized the presenter of the class and she did him as well because he had delivered packages to her place of business before. She was a dog trainer and had a wealth of knowledge to share with everyone. As an Ice Breaker we all had to go around and share the age and breed of our dogs. Eric and I were the only people with a Chihuahua. She talked to us specifically a few times about that breed when she was referring to different animal characteristics/personalities. I learned a great deal in the class. I was truly amazed at how much the information that she presented about dealing with dogs mirrored the information that I present about children. She talked about patience, consistency, modeling, setting expectations and boundaries, etc. She was very positively spoken throughout her presentation. She also brought along her assistant, “Toby,” to help with the demonstrations. He was a very well-behaved and sweet dog. When Eric and I got done we both talked about how grateful we were for our little “Quila.” Even though she barks a lot and can be very picky with her foods she’s overall a great dog and is certainly not as bad as how some of the other participants described their dogs.

On Friday at school I bought a few more books for Baby Thames. I have lots of books in my classroom but most of them are not infant/toddler friendly. The new books I got for the baby have cardboard and textured pages. After school I picked up Mrs. Thames and we went to several baby boutiques and maternity stores. We had a great time looking at all the cute baby things. I didn’t buy anything for Baby Thames because much of it was gender related but I did buy a cute jean jacket for myself at Now Showing! Later that night we went out and got pizza (cheese of course for me since it was Friday).

Week 31 (2/6/10 – 2/12/10)

Sign of the Week, “mommy.”

On Saturday I attended CPR/First Aide/AED training through my school system. I was so happy to be able to get into the course because apparently it gets filled up quick. I have been certified in CPR/First Aide before but the certification is only good for 2 years and mine had expired. Baby Thames and I were the manikins when they got to the part about doing the Heimlich on a pregnant lady! The instructors said that they hardly ever have a real pregnant woman to demo with! The instructors were awesome and took time with me individually to show me the Infant part of CPR and choking. Since I had not signed up for an Infant CPR class specifically they showed me the basics. We did not have a baby manikin to practice on so one of the instructors, who is the nurse at Carver Intermediate School, offered to get a baby manikin and have me come to her school one afternoon and give me an individual course. I was so grateful that they were willing to take that extra time with me! We were having a snowy Nor’easter this weekend so the instructors decided to let us out a little early. When I got home I showed Eric a few of the basics for infant choking and told him I’d show him more once I had my individual training. The snow fell for a good part of the afternoon. I got to talk to our photographer/friend and scheduled our maternity photo shoot for March. Eric went out later that night to celebrate a friend’s surprise birthday party. It was pretty cold out, like 27 degrees, and plus our friend’s band was playing at the bar/grill where the party was, so between the cold and very loud music I decided to stay home.

Superbowl Sunday: On Sunday I worked on Baby Thames’ Baby Book. I went ahead and started filling out the information that I could in his/her baby book. For the Superbowl we went to our friends’ Matt & Kristy’s house for the game.

On Monday Eric and I attended Part 2 of our “Parenting Newborn” class. We began discussing parenting styles and I was able to put a plug in to the “101’s A Guide to Positive Discipline,” the program through which I present about in the local community and live/teach by! I encouraged all of our classmates to check it out on the web.

On Tuesday at school everyone complemented my outfit so I had Eric take a picture. (My stomach is getting much bigger as you can see.) I inform many of them when they tell me I’m the “cutest, little pregnant girl” that I have to get up early to figure out what I’m wearing to school each day and that it’s a real challenge. Many of them are surprised that I can walk in heals all day. I tell them that after 26 years of dancing your feet are pretty much shot anyway and that walking in heals doesn’t always bother you as much as it would somebody else. Being in heals has always made me feel better that’s why I wear them all the time. I must admit though…I do find myself sitting down more in class these days. That night Eric and I attended Part 2 of our “Childbirth Education” class. We watched a childbirth video. I must admit the video was nice but a little scary.

Thursday Morning Trama: Eric has been having back problems for the last couple of weeks and had been going to the chiropractor. On this particular morning Eric woke up in excruciating pain. He was having so much pain that he was on the verge of passing out. I was panicked because I didn’t know how to help him. On top of that, my pregnancy hormones kicked in and I was crying. So, Eric had tears in his eyes from pain and I had tears because I didn’t know how to help or what to do. I called Eric’s parents over immediately (they only live 0.9 mile away). They came and decided that Eric needed to go to the Emergency Room. I wanted to stay home to be with him but I had a big meeting at work that I hated to miss because it has already been reschedule once for the snow. I knew that Eric was in good hands so I went ahead and went to work. Eric spent time in the Emergency Room that morning and then later went to see an orthopedic doctor. He was told that he has a bulging disk and will need to do physical therapy for six weeks. I already had a doctor’s appointment scheduled for this day so I went to that on my own when I left work. I got a normal check-up, baby measured well (or should I say the “roundness” of my stomach), my weight and blood pressure were fine, and the heartbeat sounded great. This time Baby Thames had moved to the right side of my stomach whereas usually he/she is always on the left. The doctor said that it is normal for babies to shift from side to side. I told Dr. Morgan about how Eric and I had gotten to meet and listen to a presentation from the pediatrician he had recommended when we went to our class. He thought that was a coincidence. When I left the doctor I went to visit Eric at his parent’s house. He had decided that he wanted to spend the night there because he was still in a lot of pain and his parents could help tend to him while I went to work on Friday. So, Quila and I went over there to spend the night too!

On Friday we celebrated Valentine’s Day at school. The kids got a treat and were able to exchange Valentines. They had a great time. We were also having a Book Fair at school this week so I bought Baby Thames some books. I found some really cute Easter/Spring books and figured they would be good since he/she will be born around that time! I’m excited to have a Spring Baby because Spring just reminds me of new life!

When I left school I went to visit Eric at his parent’s house again. He was still in a lot of pain today and mostly slept all day. Since Eric was resting/sleeping that evening his mom and I went to Aunt Loretta’s for Bunco. I do not usually play that actual game when my family has Bunco but I just go over there and socialize. I usually bring over school work to do but tonight I just went through baby paperwork like catalogs and other brochures that I have accumulated. Mrs. Thames and Aunt Loretta got to see and feel Baby Thames have the hiccups while we were there! Chase also informed me that my stomach was “getting bigger” and felt the baby move too! When we left I went back to Eric’s parent’s house for another sleepover!

Week 30 (1/30/10 – 2/5/10)

Sign of the Week, “daddy.”

On Monday I was off of school for the snow. My friend and I were supposed to give a presentation to our staff for the In-Service Training Day but since we were not there I didn’t have to…all that prepping for nothing. Oh well, the day off was nice. I got things done around the house. In the evening, Eric and I had the first part of our “Parenting Newborn” class. The first part of the class was presented by a pediatrician. The strange thing was is that he was one of the doctors that our OBGYN had recommended. When I had gone to the OB last time I had asked him to give me recommendations and he had suggested a few. As I listened to the pediatrician speak tonight I didn’t make the connection it was him until he passed out his business card. What a coincidence! During our break, Eric and I introduced ourselves to him and told him about Dr. Morgan recommending him. We told him how we had planned to come to him for a pediatrician interview soon. He shook our hands and told us to come and check out the office and meet with him again. We were very happy to have had a “sneak peak” on his beliefs/philosophy/etc. during his presentation. He actually had discussed in a part of the presentation what to do and say when you interview pediatricians! The second part of the class was done by a nurse who gave us lots of valuable information about newborn care. Eric practiced diapering our baby. We used one of my old baby dolls that I dressed up in a gender neutral outfit with a yellow cap!

On Tuesday, Groundhog Day, I was off of school for the snow again. Our friends’ son, Tristan, came over to hang out with me since he was off of school too. I worked on filing papers and gathering paperwork for tax preparation. It was nice to have the time to get it done. Later that night Eric and I attended the first part of our “Childbirth Education” (no longer called Lamaze) class. There were 7 couples in attendance. We had a great instructor who was very informative and kind. We had to do an icebreaker to start the night and found out that we were the only couple that didn’t know the sex of our baby. The lady thought that was neat and said that nowadays there is usually about one couple per class that doesn’t know. She gave us an awesome suggestion for delivery day, to have Eric ask the nurse and doctor if he can be the one to tell me the sex of our baby when he/she arrives. We thought that was great and are going to do it. We also found out that there was another girl in the class with the same exact due date as me and she’s a teacher too! Eric (a.k.a. my labor coach) was responsible for getting me an exercise ball among other things. The instructor had all of us pregnant ladies sit on them. While all of the women were sitting, legs spread, on their balls I just couldn’t bring myself to do it. I turned around and faced the front of the room instead of toward the circle at the other participants. The instructor asked me what was wrong and I told her that this totally went against my “Miss Manners” class that I took so long ago when I was a little girl. Everyone in the class laughed but what they didn’t realize is that I really did mean it (y’all know me!) Oh well, the ball was pretty comfortable but would definitely be more comfortable in the living room of my own home, where I can sit however I want! So as you can see in the picture the legs stayed closed the whole time on the ball! When we left the class Eric decided that he NEEDED Taco Bell. I was joking him and his cravings because I had already fixed dinner and it was waiting for him at home but he just had to have the Taco Bell instead, he said he had been thinking about it all day. Funny how he’s getting all the cravings…chocolate ice cream, tacos, etc…and I’m not!

Well as you know the Groundhog predicted six more weeks of winter…and believe it or not we were out of school again today. I was loving it because I had another day to relax but I know that parents are chomping at the bit to get their kids back in school. This morning I had to take our dog to the vet to get her teeth cleaned. I felt the mommy hormones kicking in when I had to sign consent forms for her to be put under. She was looking at me with the true “puppy dog eyes” when the vet took her out of my arms. Luckily she came through the dental work just fine and rested on the couch the rest of the day. Today I also ordered the cradle and cradle bedding for the baby. I also e-mailed the lady back from our church about having our little one baptized in the early summer. The daughter of the religious coordinator for our church was actually the cantor at our wedding. When I told her that Eric and I were expecting and wanted to have the baby baptized she let her daughter know. The nicest thing was that in the e-mail she sent me back she said that her daughter wanted to know the date of the baptism so that she could cantor that for us as well. What a nice thing to offer! The other cool thing that happened this week was that Aunt Linda found my Christening gown that she had made me. I honestly didn’t know that it was even still around. I thought that it had gotten lost somewhere. She was in her closet looking for a particular thing and behind it was a bag. Inside the bag was my cousin Troy’s Christening outfit and my gown that she had totally forgotten about as well. Originally I had planned to take my wedding dress and have someone make a Christening gown for our baby out of that but now I’m thinking that I might try to incorporate a part of my wedding gown material in with my Christening gown. Aunt Linda and I are going to look into fixing it up! What a real surprise!

On a pregnancy note…Baby Thames is moving very dramatically these days. Some days I feel like he/she is doing somersaults. I also feel activity during different times throughout the day now. I used to feel most activity at night but now I feel it all the time. I talked to the instructor at our childbirth class this week about the “tightening” I have been having. She said that if I am having more than 4 in an hour then I need to call the doctor. So, I have been trying to be more in tune with exactly how many tightenings I’m having and how close together. So far so good!

We were back to school on Thursday and found out that we have to make up one of the snow days on President’s Day.

On Friday I had a lot of “tightening” in the early afternoon. I sat down and that seemed to help. I am definitely going to tell the doctor about it when I see him next week. I also got “shortness of breath” reading a chapter book to the kids today. I thought, “Wow, I’m really out of shape or the baby is really taking a toll on my lungs these days!” When Eric got off of work he was able to get the new changing tower (remember the other one had been damaged and we had to order a new one) and put it and the hutch together. It looks great in the nursery! Mrs. Thames and I were going to check out a few baby boutiques after school but the weather started getting bad and I didn’t feel like going. Instead, Quila and I went home and snuggled up with Eric for a 3 hour nap!