Baby Shower and Nursery Update

What an amazing and wonderful Baby Shower I had last weekend!!  Where do I even start? 

My mom, my sisters (Heather and Diana), and two of my dearest friends (Stacey and Bethany) all worked together to plan an amazing baby shower for me and my Lil Pea.  The shower was on Saturday afternoon.  I was worried when I heard there was supposed to be snow and freezing rain on Friday night, but I held out hope that the weather forecaster had gotten it wrong.  Sadly, he did not… When I woke up Saturday there was a nice layer of both covering our cul de sac.  Poop! 

In spite of the weather, the turn out to my shower was awesome!  There are no words to describe how lucky and blessed I am to have such wonderful people in my life – in our lives!  My Aunt and cousin even came down from Delaware; my awesome and fearless Uncle brought them down. 

When I got to the shower, my sisters met me at the door and ushered me into a classroom of the church it was held in.  They had an outfit for me to wear, a little girl Pea for a headband and a customized “There’s a Pea in my Pod” shirt. 

Me!

Everything at the shower was Pea themed!  The details were amazing, from the peas in the punch (grapes, really) to the green pea colored lanterns to the names on the food (like Chick-PEA Mash was hummus).  My Dad even made a Jala-PEA-ño bread roll; it made my day that even my Dad got involved.  Anyway, the decorations were fantastic and set the tone for a fun and festive experience.  My Mom got pictures from Richard and his mom and built an awesome slide show with pictures of us as babies and from our youth.  We were super cute kids, lol! 

Decorations!

PEA themed food!!  So tastey!

Baby Sara

Baby Richard

Sara's Smurfing Birthday!

Richard's blue berry pancakes

Oh, so, the Planning Committee decided there should be music.  My Mom went on the hunt and found a digital copy of an album I had as a child.  It’s a Smurf record; yes, like a vinyl record.  So, I’m standing back in the food line when I hear the first song (apparently Mom was in the front of the room slowly turning it up until I noticed).  Well, I recognized the sound immediately, but I couldn’t place it.  I started to bounce in place a little, right.  I’m asking Heather, “Where do I know this from… I know I know this?”  Then it hits me.  It’s the Smurf record that we used to listen to on our Fisher Price Record Player when we were little.  I started laughing and teared up a little.  Suddenly, I was rushed with all these memories of my childhood… playing on the dark green carpet that was in our room, dancing to the Cookie Monster Disco.  And then it hit me… we’re having a baby and she’s going to have her own experiences like this.  She’s going to build her own memories.  And the tears that had been just laughter were overtaken by hormones.  It was just a little overwhelming, I guess.  Mom was worried for a moment that she’d upset me, but I assured her it was all right.  Just me having a silly hormonal moment.  I was a little embarrassed, though. 

Once I collected myself, we all ate some of the awesome food the Planning Committee made and then got started on some games.  They even gave away some door prizes.  The Planning Committee made some homemade truffles as gifts.  I hear they’re pretty tasty, though I haven’t gotten to eat one yet.  (Richard rations my sweets, lol!)  One of the games played was Musical Chairs!  It seemed, at the start, no one wanted to play (or believed that they would really make us play).  Once we got going, the game got a little competitive!  I was booted off my chair pretty early and I was actually a little grateful.  It looked dangerous!  Haha! 

Musical Chairs!!

Then we cut the cake, which was super cute and very tasty!  My cake was quickly stolen by Stacey so that I could start opening presents.  I tried to go quickly, but there were quite a few stacked up!!  Lil Pea is going to be a well stocked baby.  I cannot even begin to express my gratitude for the generosity of my family and friends.  We appreciate it so much!!  We got a lot of things we really needed and some things we didn’t know we needed.  All will be used, loved, and deeply appreciated. 

Lil Pea Cake

After gifts, my sisters wanted to know if I wanted to judge a contest they’d done.  Everyone had been given a onesie or a bib with some fabric markers.  They’d been asked to design a onesie for Lil Pea.  Well, there was no way I could pick just one with all the fabulous designs on display.  I didn’t realize until Mom told me yesterday that they could be washed and worn!  I can’t wait to dress her up in them, haha!

Onesies Clothes Line

Sunday, I wasn’t feeling very well.  I suspect I was just a little worn out from all the activity the week before (I’d been doing a lot of cleaning and running around, then my shower).  I had some pretty bad back pain and was feeling all around yucky.  So, my amazing Mom came over and hung out with me for the day while Richard was at work.  We unpacked all of Lil Pea’s new things and started to organize her room.  



Glider Corner



Crib (see the lanterns from the shower!)

Changing Table

Dresser, Lil Pea picture, the corner of the Pack-n-Play...

Closet!

           

All in all it was a fantastic day and I couldn’t be happier!!  I’m so excited that she’s so close to joining us and so grateful that she’s going to be born into such a loving group of people! 

Our first birthing class

Richard and I had our first birthing class Tuesday night.  We were both pretty excited and unsure of what to expect.  The start of these classes feels like it brings us one step closer to bringing Lil Pea home with us.  Plus, we are both avid learners.  We were looking forward to being taught anything that might help us feel more relaxed (especially for me) and understand the process (particularly for him).  Richard donned his “New Dad – March 2012” shirt, we packed up our pillows and blanket, and off we went. 

(On a side note, my mother-in-law had given me a few bucks to get a couple of the novelty maternity t-shirts I’d found online.  I was super excited and got two for myself and the New Dad shirt for Richard.  I was thoroughly disappointed to find that the two I ordered for myself didn’t fit – like at all.  It looked like it was made for an overweight munchkin.  They didn’t even come down far enough to hit my belly button.  For reals!?!?  Isn’t this supposed to be a MATERNITY top???  I was super disappointed and will be returning them pronto.  Ah well…  Richard got a cute shirt out of the deal – and his fits fine, the punk.  Lol!)

We chatted on our way down to Winchester about what the classes might be like and wondered if we’d meet any cool couples.  We were the first to arrive since I wanted to leave a few minutes early as we weren’t 100% sure where we were going.  The teacher of the class seemed cheerful and fairly laid back.  She has two kids of her own and worked as a doula for a while.  We chatted for a few minutes while the class trickled in.  There are only four other couples in our class and they all seemed to be about in the same age group.  No one was particularly older or younger than us. 

She had us do a fun little ice breaker and we discovered that two couples are having boys and the other two are intentional surprises.  All of us are first timers.  None of the Dads-to-be have ever changed a diaper or held an infant.  I must say that I am still a little amazed at the lack of excitement from the other parents…  Perhaps it’s just really naïve of me to think that baby equals excitement for all.  Or maybe Richard and I are just a little over the top (not a far stretch, lol), thus skewing my perspective.  Either way, I was hoping for a little more cheerfulness from the other couples. 

Nonetheless, it was a good class.  She started out going over some of the basics, baby’s positioning, and how our anatomy changes.  We did learn a few things we didn’t already know from reading our books.  I will admit there is a big difference in KNOWING that a woman’s body can dilate to 10 centimeters and actually SEEING what 10 centimeters looks like… Yikes!  We did a few easy breathing techniques and she gave us homework to do before next week’s class.  We’ll get to tour the new Labor and Delivery area later in the classes, which we’re really excited about.  I didn’t even know it was new.  But apparently they’re doing an Open House this weekend.  Richard and I will wait for the tour with the class since he’s got to work on Saturday (and it’s my Baby Shower!!!!!). 

So next week’s class we are going to get into labor and learn some more breathing and relaxation techniques.  I’m looking forward to it, especially since we’re planning on doing some baby shopping before class! 

We’re at 30 weeks as of yesterday.  I’m feeling fantastic!  I’ve had a fair amount of energy (though nothing like my pre-pregnancy self).  I’ve still been having a lot of weird dreams.  There have been a few nights of heartburn, but nothing too horrendous.  My hips and shoulders are sore most of the time, but I think that has to do with sleeping on my side almost exclusively.  All in all, I still love this whole pregnancy experience! 

Lil Pea is a wiggle worm and I feel her moving all the time.  Yesterday, she was going pretty much non-stop.  I love watching my belly move as she flips around in there.  And, sappy as it may be, I love it when we go to bed at night and Richard will talk to her and “play” with her (by tapping his fingers against my belly where she kicks – sometimes she even kicks back at him).  And I’m totally overwhelmed by how lucky I am and how much I love him and can’t wait to meet her.  It’s amazing and a little surreal.  It’s just so hard to articulate how my feelings toward Richard have changed and grown in response to Lil Pea.  I totally “get it” now, though…  I understand why it’s “supposed” to be this way.  I am ever grateful that certain events in my life didn’t come to pass… this is the way it was always meant to be. 

I am so in love with our little budding family!!            

Medical Update

I hope you’ll forgive me for my delay in posting this medical update.  I was a little worried about it and felt it in my best interest to wait for some results before discussing. 

On Friday, December 30^th, I had one of my regularly scheduled prenatal appointments.  I’ve been doing these pretty much biweekly since the start of my pregnancy because of our “high risk” category and to keep an eye on my blood sugars.  Usually, I’m in and out of the office in about 20 minutes or so.  They check my urine, blood pressure, blood sugar chart, and Lil Pea’s heartbeat (easily my favorite part).  They also ask if I’ve had any cramping, bleeding, swelling, etc. 

That visit started off as normal as any other.  She sent me in to pee in my little cup and checked my blood pressure.  It was an early morning appointment for me, so I hadn’t had much to drink yet.  I’d also made the mistake of using the restroom before leaving the house, so there really wasn’t much in there for me to deposit into the cup.  I joked with the nurse about it, flashed my water bottle, and assured her I was working on getting my fluids in.  When she checked my sample with her little magic wand of color, she asked me if I’d ever had any protein in my urine.  I said no.  She said she wanted to take it over to the lab and have them double check what she saw. 

When she came back, she asked if she could recheck my blood pressure.  At this point, my guard was going up but I wasn’t sure exactly what she was suggesting might be wrong.  I’ve done a lot of reading, but there’s a lot of information out there.  I asked her what was up.  She said that the lab agreed that there was some blood and protein in my urine sample.  I swallowed down my impulse to panic and asked what that meant.  She said she’d prefer to let the doctor discuss it with me further, but told me my blood pressures were all reading in the normal ranges. 

Uhhh, okay…  So, she left and I waited. 

Doctor E. came in and I knew I’d like her right off the bat.  She looked over my chart remarking on this and that.  She was really impressed with my lack of a weight gain and said that would come in handy this last trimester.  She was proud of my blood sugar numbers and told me that I should be pleased with how well things were going there.  She asked about my last ultrasound and asked if we’d picked out a name.  When I told her that we were just calling her Lil Pea for the moment, she told me she called her daughter “Firefly”.  Then she asked about my pea pod necklace.  It was so refreshing to have such a nice conversation, rather than just feel shuffled in and back out.  She listened to Lil Pea’s heartbeat and remarked that it was perfectly in range and sounded good and strong.  She also joked about what a wiggler we have, as she had to chase her around my abdomen to get a reading in the first place.  Haha! 

I was feeling much better about things when she sat back and asked me if I had any questions.  I told her that the nurse mentioned something about blood and protein in my urine this morning – what does that mean? 

Basically, it’s a warning sign for preeclampsia.  Preeclampsia is high blood pressure which occurs during pregnancy.  Other than the protein in my urine, I had (and continue to have) no other indications of preeclampsia.  Because this is our first pregnancy, because of my weight, and because of the gestational diabetes, I am in a higher risk category for developing this condition.  She suggested that it could also be caused by dehydration or a bladder infection.  She wanted to run some tests on the urine I’d provided and then consider doing a 24 hour urine collection. 

She gave me a giant orange jug, a lovely “pee catching hat”, and some instructions on how to do a urine collection.  She told me not to be alarmed; she’d let me know the results on Tuesday, January 3^rd and we’d go from there.  Then, as I’m heading to check out, she stops me in the hallway and says that if I experience any swelling of my hands or face, a headache that won’t go away, or any spotted vision that I should go to Labor and Delivery.  Thanks, lady; now I’m alarmed. 

So I go home and have a little meltdown.  Waiting sucks.  The weekend crawled by and the anxiety I was feeling only increased when I looked up the complications of preeclampsia…  Damn the internet. 

Finally, Tuesday rolled around.  I got a call from the doctor’s office and my results were negative for a bladder infection.  They wanted to me to go forward with the 24 hour urine collection.  They asked that I please call them and them know when I’d dropped it off at Winchester’s Diagnostic Center (where they would also draw some blood).  No problem.  Wednesday morning, I started collecting.  Eeww.

Thursday morning, I took my very full container (go me!) down to Winchester.  Their Diagnostic Center is really nice.  They have little buzzers to notify you when it’s your turn and it’s well organized.  The staff was very friendly.  I was in and out pretty quickly.  I called the doctor’s office to let them know I’d dropped everything off and they promised to get back to me soon with the results. 

I figured I’d be waiting until Monday, at least.  Friday afternoon, they called.  Good news!  My 24 hour collection came back normal.  My iron was a little low, so they’d like me to start on a supplement for that, but otherwise things look okay.  They want me to come in Tuesday (January 10^th) just for a follow up.  They can use this normal sample as a baseline for any further problems should they arise. 

This was a really disheartening experience for me.  Things have been going so well!  I feel fantastic.  My weight gain has been minimal – if at all.  I’ve been able to keep my sugars pretty close to normal.  My ketones have been negative.  I’ve been really good about my diet.  I mean, overall, I thought we were doing really well.  This was a harsh reminder that I’m not as healthy as I should be.  Though, the doctor did tell me that it isn’t solely based on weight; she’s had little “toothpicks” develop preeclampsia.  There’s nothing I can really do, but keep doing what I’m doing.  Watch what I eat, stay active, and drink lots and lots of fluids. 

We are a little less than 8 weeks from being full term!  Just under 12 weeks until our due date!  It still feels far away when I look at a calendar, but to say it out loud…. Wow, she’s going to be here before we know it!!  I’m so glad that I have a wiggler.  Every kick, punch, flip, and squiggle is a comfort to me. 

Story Time!

I’ve heard that pregnancy can bring on some strange dreams.  I’ve always had some pretty wild and vivid dreams, but I’ve noticed an increase during my pregnancy.  My first trimester was riddled with brightly colored dreams and most of them were “bad” or unhappy.  No real nightmares, but not exactly friendly dreams.  My second trimester was much more restful.  I didn’t remember my dreams nearly as frequently as I had before.  My third trimester seems to be starting out with some pretty crazy ones already.  Last night was the second night in a row of remembering a pretty crazy dream that was extremely vivid and detailed.  Luckily, so far, they’ve just been strange rather than full of bad things happening. 

I thought, if you are interested in the twisted mind of Sara… you might enjoy the following adventure. 

~*~*~*~*~*~

The whole family was at Mom and Dad’s.  Their house was similar in nature to their real one, only it had a full and finished basement.  The house also sat on Grandma and Grandpa’s property in Woodstock.  (Just setting the scene for those that know those locations, it doesn’t affect the rest of the dream.) 

In the dream, we were all downstairs in the basement discussing what we were going to do for fun.  Someone suggested that we have a cooking contest.  That each pair of us had to prepare a full meal for a particular time of day (breakfast, brunch, lunch, dinner).  There had to be at least four pieces to each meal: a meat, a starch or grain, a veggie or fruit, and a desert.  Richard and I drew breakfast, so we went first.     

Our plan was simple.  Pancakes, with a twist that was Richard’s idea.  Bacon, because who doesn’t love bacon.  A fruit and cottage cheese parfait.  And I wanted to do an oreo pudding dessert.  I’m not sure how oreo pudding qualified as a desert for breakfast, but that was our menu plan.  We wrote it out on a white board and headed up to the kitchen to start. 

Everything started out normal enough.  Richard began mixing the pancake batter while I layered a berry parfait in a really beautiful crystal container that I'd found in Mom's cabinet.  Bacon was thawed and I was getting ready to start that when a group of people I knew in high school showed up.  They brought in a huge cooler of beer and cranked up the WVU football game on the radio.  I sent them out of the kitchen and went back to my tasks.  Meanwhile, Richard had baked a cake with the pancake batter!  He covered the top with powdered sugar, mint leaves, and a few leftover berries from my parfait.  It actually looked really neat, though I was mad at first that he hadn’t just made normal pancakes.     

The bacon had filled the kitchen with smoke, so I opened up a sliding glass door that led to the front porch (an addition that my dream added to my mom’s house).  The guys on the porch were getting pretty rowdy and acting a little drunk; opening the back door gave them access to my kitchen again.  I had, at some point, made my oreo pudding.  It just needed the whipped cream final touches and we could take our meal downstairs to be judged by the rest of the family.  As I sent Richard downstairs with the rest of our meal, two of the guys from high school had dipped spoons in my pudding!!  There were two huge ruts out of my perfect pudding!  I was outraged and smacked them both on the hands.  They laughed and went back to their drinking.  I took a spatula and smoothed out the ruts, but it didn’t look quite right. 

I shook the pan from side to side and front to back, to try and even out the mixture.  As I did so, the pan grew in size!!  I was startled and took a step back.  The guys said that I hadn’t quite fixed it yet and maybe I should shake it some more.  With every shake it got bigger and every time I thought I had it perfect someone would point out another flaw.  Suddenly, the pudding was the size of a swimming pool!!  With every shake, it produced a wave of pudding.  I’d picked up one end and dropped it back down.  A wave of oreo pudding stretched up to the ceiling!  I realized at this point that it was out of control.  I couldn’t stop it!  It was going to crash down or spill over the sides.  My pudding was ruined; I sobbed!  The wind, caused by the tsunami of pudding, rushed around us.  It rocked back and forth in the pool sized pudding pan ominously.  Then, an air pocket appeared underneath the pudding… with the force of a bomb, it exploded!  The blast sent pudding everywhere and blew the roof right off the house! 

I watched as the roof and walls of my parent’s kitchen, living room, and sun room went soaring through the night sky before crashing into the woods a full acre away!  Horrified, I ran to the basement.  The sound of the explosion had rattled my family, but they didn’t realize the gravity of the situation.  I sobbed into my dad’s shirt that I’d blown up their kitchen.  Everyone rushed up the stairs and out of the back porch to see.

As we walked up the hill, I sniffled to Mom “At least you can get your new kitchen now…”

Richard’s alarm went off as we were gazing at the pudding dripping from the leaves of the trees.   

~*~*~*~*~*~

I’m sure it’s no surprise I woke up with a craving for oreo pudding…

            

Happy New Year!

Every December, I take the time to reflect on the year I’ve had as we move into the New Year.  This year I was a little overwhelmed by how much has happened.  What began as a simple year with simple plans turned into a busy year with several huge, life-altering changes…

January of 2011, Richard and I decided we’d make the year about our health.  We’d try and lose some weight and figure out why we were having such a hard time getting pregnant.  That was the extent of our lofty goals.  The next several months were dedicated to just that.  I set up a few appointments with my doctors and launched our new diet plan.  Looking back, it might have been the calm before the storm, haha!

In April, though, we made our first huge life change… I left my job with the National Park Service to stay at home for a while.  It was a big decision and one we took very seriously.  I’d been unhappy for a long while, but it was still a tough choice.  I loved what I did and took a lot of pride and joy from helping my employees.  I really enjoyed some of the new responsibilities I had.  However, I took my job almost too seriously.  I worried and obsessed over everything.  I came home in tears more often than not.   I started apologizing in my sleep.  It’s hard to name exactly what went wrong or why I needed to leave.  I couldn’t take care of my house anymore; I couldn’t take care of myself anymore.  I barely had the energy to do anything.  So, we agreed that I should take a break.  I’d take some time to get my health in order and find myself again.  My last day in the office was May 19, 2011.   

June, my baby sister got married.  I cleaned my house, caught up on laundry, read a book or two, and generally took it easy.  It wasn’t all fun and games, though.  I was pretty upset about my diagnosis – PCOS (polycystic ovarian syndrome).  It looked like pregnancy would be a long time coming with a less than helpful OBGYN.  So, Richard and I bought a dog…

Loki joined our family in July.  Based on Lil Pea’s growth, it appears that Loki joined us just a few days AFTER she joined us…  Oops!!  Maybe not the best time for a new puppy after all.  We didn’t find out about Lil Pea until July 19^th.  Richard pushed for me to test and thus occurred our second (or third, if you count Loki) major life change….  A positive pregnancy test!! 

Needless to say, I was over the moon and promptly went out and found a new OBGYN.  Meanwhile, Richard’s mom had decided that maybe Florida wasn’t the place she wanted to be.  Richard and I began looking for apartments in the Charles Town area.  We didn’t have much luck so we visited my friend and real estate agent, Reinie, to see if she had any recommendations.  Naturally, she thought, with a new baby on the way maybe it was time for us to upgrade.  That opened up a world of possibilities, IF we could get approved on Richard’s income alone.  It was a big “yes; wait, no, maybe not” process.  Finally, we found a guy who thought he could make it all work.  Next thing we know, we’re looking at houses! 

It was a long process.  August and September flew by with our first ultrasound and putting an offer in on a home we fell in love with.  We missed the first house; the highest/best offer was outside of our price range.  Then we found out that we weren’t as pregnant as we thought we were.  Lil Pea was just 7 weeks along rather than the 12 we’d calculated.  It seemed we had more time, so we slowed down and went out on the hunt again. 

In October we closed on our new house (another huge life change)!  Our new place will be the perfect home to raise our children in!  We couldn’t possibly be happier here.  We’ve put together a great little nursery and continue to feather the nest.  We’ve got so many ideas about things we can do to the house; it should keep us busy for the next 30 years.  Haha!  Best of all, I get to continue to stay home from work and dedicate myself to taking care of our family!!  Sure, finances will be tighter.  For us, this is an opportunity we can’t refuse. 

So here we are… the first day of 2012.  We have affectionately termed it “Year of the Baby.”  I feel excited and nervous and humbled and so full of happiness, I just might burst. We have so much to be thankful for and so much to look forward to…!  This is going to be the most amazing year yet!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!