nesting.

Well, I think it finally hit me yesterday. The clutter in our house was making me crazy. It still is making me crazy (because it's by no means eliminated yet) but at least I can feel better knowing that I am in the process of getting rid of it! So... I have a really hard time just cleaning. There is so much to do that it overwhelms me so I just crawl back into my little space on the couch and pretend it's not there. Well... NOT ANYMORE, darn it. I just needed some direction. Baby steps. Literally, a step-by-step guide to cleaning. And I found it at Fly Lady!

I shined that kitchen sink last night and let me tell you... that shiny kitchen sink is a reflection of the love that I have for myself. That was my first step. I even have a designated "sink towel" that I use to dry out the sink after each use. Step two (today's step) was to "get dressed to lace up shoes." I honestly have no idea what that means but I took it to mean that I basically need to make myself look nice and presentable. Well, I do that every day (except on the weekend) anyway so that was no problem.

I'm going to peek at tomorrow's step: "Do what we have already done." See... baby steps! I can do this.

34 week checkup.

So my appointment this morning was great. It made me feel even more confident about everything than I did before! I just can't be in active labor on a Monday or a Wednesday because that's when my midwife is working in the office. :) But she gave me her direct contact numbers so that we could reach her when this baby is ready to go! She is the BEST midwife EVERRRR.

I brought in a rough copy (it was all wrinkled and had some spills on it) of our birth plan just to discuss a couple of changes I made to it from last time...

• I asked about frequency of vaginal exams during labor, mainly because I am hoping to avoid them in abundance after my water has broken. A check every 2-3 hours is what I expect and that is cool with me.
• I asked about delaying a saline lock until later on in labor because it was pretty sore and kind of annoying/distracting last time (I got it right away). But since I plan on laboring at home for as long as possible, I could potentially go without one at all if I get to the hospital complete!
• The last thing I brought up was about how I was doing more of the Hypnobirthing thing this time around (I did Bradley last time) and that active, forced pushing is not a part of the routine in Hypnobirthing. It looks as though that will work out just fine and dandy, especially with this being my second birth. So unless I really feel like pushing, I think I am going to try focusing on just relaxing and "Birth Breathing" the baby down to ensure a "relaxed, gradual descent".

Basically, she said whatever I wanted to do was cool! I'm really looking forward to this experience being a smooth and spontaneous labor. I never got to experience laboring in the comfort of our own home last time!

I also found this great article on the 3rd stage of labor: http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/275304-overview

Very informative!

rain.

The rain doesn't bother me... I find rainy weather kind of soothing, actually. But when you have a photo session scheduled, then rain is very unwelcome! Unless, of course, the point of the shoot is to be "in the rain". And that is exactly what this morning was all about! I met our maternity photographer, Will Greene (and his lovely fiancee), downtown to get a few shots in the rain. You could say the weather cooperated!



I am 34 weeks along today - my next appointment is Monday morning where I hope to skim over my birth plan and ask a few questions.

Oh, I must share this video (of Noah), too: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RQ7J1KMxwXg

Bless his little heart...



Anyway, part 2 of the maternity sesh (to include Matt and Noah) has been postponed until next weekend. Hopefully the weather cooperates the other way around! :)

(And this could actually work out nicely because the new tops I ordered *might* be in before then! But don't tell Matt I went shopping... Old Navy was having a maternity sale and I had $20 in rewards, I couldn't help it!)

sleep.

I'm about to jinx everything. But let me just tell you... Noah slept through the night ALL week. Do you know what that means? That means a new world record has been set, my friends. Now... have I slept through the night? Umm, no. Because if I hear Noah make a sound over the monitor (even just one tiny sound), I'm up... and then instead of going right back to sleep, I realize how badly I have to pee... or how my stomach is about to eat itself. So then I have to take care of the issue at hand before resuming my peaceful slumber.

Not to mention I wake up every time I change position... so that's awesome. And every time Matt decides to grind his teeth so hard it sounds like he's chewing ice cubes. Hah! But that's okay... if Noah wants to sleep through the night, that's just one less thing for me! I better cherish it while I can because I will be back to sleep deprivation come next month! :o

well.

February is going to be a long month because I just completed Noah's second Christmas gift... so both kiddos are finished for gift #2! :( Bittersweet. At least I don't have to worry about Matt getting mad at me for spending money for the rest of this month. Well, he probably still will but... this is just one less thing.

Oh, and my boob is much better now. Phew!

round 2.

With February comes round two of Christmas gifts! So today I found a cute little gift for the newbie. It's a little Lubies cow! Basically, it's a stuffed animal in the shape of a ball. But it's cute. And I'm sure he/she will love it. So Newbie gift for February has been accomplished. Possibly only one more month of not knowing the sex when buying Christmas gifts! Unless I don't find something in March until after I have him/her.

next month.

NEXT MONTH! I can say that now. It's February! Okay, more than likely... next month. I mean, technically speaking, I could have the baby April 1st but what are the odds of that? If I was going to be overdue, that's one day out of 13... that's a 8% chance. But you never know.

Our maternity photo shoot is this Saturday. Because I'm feeling so lazy, I'm just kind of like "meh" about the whole thing but I better perk up by the time Saturday comes because what if this is my last pregnancy EVAH? I know, I said I wanted like at least four kids or something but you come to realize how expensive they are... so we'll just have to stick with two for now and re-evaluate the situation in a couple years. Anyway, my point is... I hope to look like a glowing, joyous pregnant woman in these pictures since it could be my last impression of pregnancy. Kind of like wedding pictures... you want to look your most beautiful at such a special time in your life!

Anywho, I'm 33 weeks along now... things are going along nicely. Although I did wake up with a horrible sore spot on my right breast. It hurt so much that carrying Noah on my right hip was painful when he leaned against me. I shall put a warm compress on it tonight and pray that it's not nearly as sore tomorrow because I read a horror story about mastitis and the girl ended up needing reconstructive surgery on her breast and all this crazy stuff. I didn't even realize you could get mastitis without breastfeeding but... it's definitely possible.

So now that Noah's first set of molars is all the way through, he has been doing pretty good sleeping the past week or so. But it won't be long before that next set starts acting up! And he doesn't even have his incisors yet so I'm just waiting for those, too.

I listened to Rainbow Relaxation last night (it's like a hypnosis thing) and it was pretty amazing. I think I fell asleep rather quickly... like, I only got the first color of mist and I was out, hahaha. I really tried to focus. If this hypnosis stuff really works during labor, I will be thoroughly impressed. I'm just scared about the nurses trying to meddle with my pieces and parts while I'm trying to MEDITATE! So that is where I'm really counting on Matt to monitor their interaction and act like a barrier between me and them, lol. Not that they aren't great and I know they mean well but sometimes a girl just needs to have a baby in peace. It's a really hard mental workout that requires lots of concentration. Lots.

Oh, and I added like a crazy fun little poll section on the right sidebar just because I love to make clicky polls. It's a little weird but I couldn't resist. That poll widget was just calling to me. Multiple times.