34 Weeks- Update

It seems like forever since I've written. I've been around. I've probably commented on your blog if you've written anything, but I've slacked in updating my own. Since I have so much to cover, though, I'll try to make each thing as brief as possible. You know me, though, I'm not ever one to be short on words. So we'll see how this goes.

• The date of my last post was on my 2 year wedding anniversary. Jesse picked me up from work with pink stargazer lillies. These are my absolute favorite. I think they are beautiful and they were also on our wedding cake. We then went out to eat at a restaurant called "Oregon Electric Station". It is an original train depot built in 1912, and the dining rooms are rail cars. We had never been there before, but when I read on their online menu that they had teriyaki top serloin, I knew that's where I wanted to go. The atmosphere wasn't what I wanted- not really romantic- especially with the teenage girls next to us blabbing about their friends and school. But the food was fantastic... and WAY more expensive than I intended to pay. I was thinking we'd spend about $50 for dinner, but our food alone (appetizer, drinks, entrees, and dessert) was $76. Add the tip to that and we left paying $90!!! Good thing we only do this once a year. And, other than dinner, we didn't buy anything else for each other. We've kinda made it tradition to go out to a fancy restaurant (somewhere we've never been) each anniversary. So, it was worth the experience.

My flowers.

Not the greatest picture, but us before going to dinner.

The restaurant.

• On July 1st, I had my 32 week doctor's appointment. They weighed me and I had gained 0 lbs. This was nice, only because I had gained 3 lbs in the previous 2 weeks (which seemed wrong since I had just eaten). So, gaining 0 lbs this time made things even out. My doctor has never expressed any concern about my weight either. My urine tests are all still coming out great. I measured 33 cm, just one bigger than the number of weeks I am (which seems to be the trend). I had a list of questions for Dr. York this time, so she answered them for me. The short answers are: She will be in town when I am due. Her schedule changed. So unless she happens to have already worked up to 36 hours while on call or unless she has a medical procedure already scheduled, she will be there for the birth. She wants to be there, though, and has a record of delivering 70% of her own patients' babies. She said that I could try taking Benadryl for the extra nasal drainage that I seem to have (which may be contributing to my morning routing of throwing up everyday and to my lingering cough which has now lasted more than a month). She seemed skeptical that Benadryl would really work. She was just offering it as an option. So i have yet to try it. And, as far as my swollen feet and ankles go, contrary to what I thought, she said I need to be on my feet more. Sitting constricts the blood vessels whereas walking gets the blood flowing. This doesn't seem to be true with my experience, though. The days where I'm on my feet all day are the worst for my feet, making me look like I have club feet or cankles (calves that go straight into your ankles). Other days, when I take it easy, I am fine. So, I don't know about that... Finally, Josiah's heartbeat continues to sound great. I have one more routine appointment (this Thursday actually) and then my next one will be my 36 week one where I will have a pelvic exam and a Group B Strep test.

I never claimed to have pretty feet, but they're even uglier all swollen up. I just wanted everyone to see what I was talking about:

Notice how much it bulges?

And the indents from my flip flop straps?

See my right foot compared to my left?

Today at work. See the cankles?

• On July 4th, we celebrated Independence Day. We had brunch at my aunt's house with several family members, and that evening we attended a big BBQ with everyone from church. There was volleyball, food, water balloons, and fireworks. Overall, it seemed like a low-key day. Jesse and I took some pictures together at the end of the day. Rather than taking pictures of my belly every week (like I intended), I've actually been taking them on every major holiday. So, here are the pictures from that night.

Watching fireworks.

32 Weeks, 4 Days Pregnant

• The next Wednesday, July 8th, I found out that Leigh had her twin babies! I was quite surprised. I knew she would likely have her babies before me (despite me being 2 weeks ahead) simply because they were twins, but I didn't expect them then. To be fair, neither did she! I am very excited for her as her babies seem to be thriving well and only need to bulk up a bit. Shortly after that, I read of someone else who had her baby the same week even though she was due two days after me. For both women, they had fairly normal pregnancies and no real signs that their babies were coming that early until their waters broke that day/night. These events, along with some other minor happenings, have made me realize that I could have my baby ANY day! As of today, my due date is 6 weeks away. But, realistically, he could come any time during these weeks. I don't feel prepared yet. The nursery is still a mess and job arrangements haven't been made yet. But these happenings have kicked me into gear. Last Sunday, Jesse and I came home and I started pulling out files and boxes and sorting through all of our bills and documents. There are so many lingering projects and I feel like if we don't do them before Josiah comes, they won't get done. Jesse just sat there amazed. I'm an organized person, but I need to do things on my time, in my own motivation. So, he'd pretty much given up on these projects. I told him I was just nesting, and he replied that he wished I could be all of the time. He was overjoyed at the whole thing. We're not done yet, but each day are trying to tackle some of the projects to get them done.
• This week the pressure is really hitting me to make a decision about work. We're supposed to start interviewing and training someone to cover for me while I'm on maternity leave around the 27th of this month. However, my manager is out of town all this week and next week, so as soon as she gets back, this is all happening. It's hard to pick a candidate and train them without knowing if they are only going to be working 3 weeks or indefinitely. 3 weeks is the most I can take since I'm only going to be paid for 20 hours of it (that's all of the time off I have accumulated at this point, since I use it for every holiday and appointment). Doing daycare at my own house seems to be crumbling before my eyes. I have one guaranteed client, a newborn baby who I'll start watching around the first of October, but I need at least two more kids full-time to pay my bills. I don't think these kids exist! It seems that I can't find anyone who either needs childcare that I can provide or who can afford childcare at this time. And every time I think about going back to work, I start to cry (my newest pregnancy symptom). I just didn't go through all of this only to leave my baby for 9 hours a day while I work. Yet, I feel like it's my responsibility as a wife and 1/2 of the team to put in my part and help pay bills. There's no way Jesse can make more money at this point with the economic status of our country (and city) and I don't want him to work two jobs just so I can stay home causing him to miss out on his baby's life too. I feel like it's selfish of me to choose to stay home if it puts our family in a financial bind, and yet it breaks my heart to consider coming back to work. I do believe that God gave us this baby to be born at THIS specific time and that He's not going to leave us hanging. But I feel like I have to make a step right now and I don't know which direction to go in. It scares me and I cry every time I talk about it. It stresses me out, and I hate it, but I can't avoid it because it is all going to go down in a matter of weeks. We're praying about it as often as we can. So I'm hoping that I hear some direction some time soon.
• This last weekend, in non-pregnancy news, Jesse spent all day Saturday (the 11th) putting up our fence. This has been a long time coming, so that was a great treat. Now I don't have to watch our neighbors sunbathing on their patio anymore! Our house came with a big dirt mound of a backyard. The patio in the picture is one that Jesse did himself (with a friend), and you can see, before he finished, what view we had of our neighbors houses. The next step is to start landscaping, with flowerbeds and grass. So ignore the weeds and grass patches as they aren't going to be there that much longer. And, while he did that, I spent the day planning a baby shower for a lady from my church. I think it's going to be super fun and cute. I'll post pictures when the party happens on August 8th. I'm adding it all to my portfolio so that I can do my own party planning business someday. We'll see...

• Finally, yesterday I had a slight scare when I threw up. I have experienced throwing up a bit of blood most days when I get sick. I've always been told by the doctors, though, that as long as it was just a small amount, it was probably okay- just an irritated stomach or esophogas. But yesterday, the amount seemed significantly more than before. So i called the doctor's office. I really hesitated to at first. I felt like there were logical reasons as to why this was happening and I didn't want to spend a day in the ER if I didn't need to. I also wondered how they could even tell what was wrong with me. But in the end, I figured that if there was any way that this could jeopardize the health of my baby, I wasn't willing to risk it. Fortunately, Dr. York was the one on call. She already knows what's been going on. She said that if I am bleeding in my stomach, I will throw up again during the day. She also said I need to look for any black stool as this would indicate internal bleeding as well. I should call back if either of these happen. Since I am coming in on Thursday anyways, she said that they will test my blood levels to ensure that I'm not losing too much blood (which I don't think is a problem). And, in the meanwhile, she prescribed an antacid for me. Likely, my digestive tract is irritated by throwing up everyday, so an antacid might aleviate some of that. I took my first two pills yesterday, and when I got sick this morning, there was no blood and I actually didn't throw up as much as I normally do. So, hopefully this will help all around. After 162 straight days of throwing up, I'm glad to find a possible relief.