Wardrobe change

I cleaned out my closet today. A complete clean out.

Normally, cleaning out one's closet it not a big deal. However, today I put all of my "normal" (read: non-maternity) clothes back in my closet and moved out all of my maternity clothes.

I did keep one pair of maternity pants in my closet -- only because they are probably the only pants that fit me right now. I am scared to try on my jeans -- I just KNOW they won't fit 2 1/2 weeks after giving birth. But, my "regular" shirts fit....and so do some of my "regular" pants...so I figured it was time for a change. After all, I have been wearing maternity clothes since last June. That is a long, long time!

Sadly though, I have discovered that my maternity wardrobe has many more clothes in it, and is much cuter than my regular stuff. Really - ask any woman who has a maternity wardrobe -- chances are she'll tell you her maternity stuff is way cuter than her non-maternity stuff. I don't know why this is.

As happy as I am to be slowly working back into my regular clothes, it was a bit sad to put the maternity stuff away. Last time I did this, I knew I'd be pulling it out again someday. This time, the clothes are being put away permanently. It kind of tugs at the heart a bit. (And NO! I do not want to be pregnant again....it's just a "milestone" kind of sadness. Don't read anything else into it. Seriously. I am done having babies.).

Anyway....now I have a goal to work toward --- fitting into my jeans!

Hand me my pain meds and a Kleenex...

A few random thoughts about this past week...

Pain management
Percocet and Motrin are my new best friends. Taken every 4 to 6 hours, they seem to be working. However, I still have to sleep sitting up.

C-sections are painful - there's no other way to put it. Think about it -- you have basically been sliced open from one side to the other (i.e., gutted) and then stitched back up. I think I might have popped one stitch, but can't tell, since they are internal stitches...but, I am having quite a bit of pain in one small area.

I might have to call the doctor if it doesn't get any better in another day or so.

Time management
Kevin goes back to work on Wednesday. Things have been relatively sane since we came home on Saturday, but only because he's been here to help 24-7. Not sure how smoothly things will go after 7:30 a.m. tomorrow morning.

Thankfully, my mom is going to be here to help.

Oddly enough, I am finding enough time to email friends, update my blogs and do other non-essential things. I have also been doing lots of other things -- laundry, cleaning the kitchen, putting laundry away. I am paying for this -- my feet, ankles and legs are swollen. (Think: Shrek feet). I must try to do less.

Sleep
Not sleeping well at all. The nurses were kind enough to give me Ambien every night in the hospital to help me sleep. I don't have the luxury of taking sleep aids at home...we have to be able to wake for that 3 a.m. feeding. [As a side note: if you ever need to take prescription sleep aid, Ambien is wonderful! I really did sleep for 6 or 7 hours without waking].

Adding to my sleep issues - the fact that I have to sleep sitting up due to my incision and I'm also waking every hour just to check on Emma. If I could, I would probably sit up all night just to make sure she's sleeping OK. It's a mom thing....I think I did the same thing with Olivia.

Last night I slept in the La-Z-Boy in our home office. With Emma in my arms. Until 3 a.m.

Kleenex, anyone?
My hormones are, in a word, crashing. This means I am an emotional train wreck. The crying started Wednesday night. For no reason - I just started crying, as if a switch was turned on and then turned off. It has been happening every night since last Wednesday.

I cried for an hour Friday night after Kevin went home and I was still in the hospital. I wasn't sad...just hormonal.

I cried Saturday night. And Sunday. Monday night too. I will probably cry tonight before 10 p.m.

This too shall pass.

And now, it's almost 9 p.m. so I should go put my feet up and relax. Emma needs a bottle soon and then it's bedtime and then the 3 a.m. feeding and then the adventure starts again tomorrow morning.

Baby Love

We welcomed Emma Grace on

Wednesday, Jan. 24th at 10:46 a.m.

She's perfect in every way.

Six more days....

Had my last doctor's appointment yesterday. All is good. Ran some last-minute errands -- you know, for baby formula, travel-size toiletries for the hospital and stuff like that.

And tomorrow I'm getting my pre-baby pedicure. I cannot wait...I have not been able to paint my toe nails in months -- and I always have them painted. So, the pedicure is going to be wonderful. Not to mention, relaxing.

And then we wait. Until Wednesday.

Six more days.

The countdown continues.....

(BTW: that's a photo of Olivia the day after she was born -- 3 years ago!).

And now, this....

It's not enough that I am uncomfortable, completely exhausted most of the time, unable to stand for very long without feeling like baby is going to fall out (she's not) and unable to go longer than 30 minutes without peeing....

Now, I also have a cold.

Wonderful.

Ah-choo.

What are you staring at?

I had to get out of the house today -- I am suffering from cabin fever, since I am under a self-imposed driving hiatus. [I can't fit behind the wheel anymore...so therefore, no more driving].

Anyway...my mom picked me and Olivia up and we went to the mall for a short time. And, I kid you not, people were actually STARING at me, as if they had never seen a pregnant woman before.

Now, I understand that right now I am huge. Gi-normous, actually. But, I'm 37 weeks pregnant..I'm having a baby in two freakin' weeks, people. I know it looks as if I just consumed a rather large beach ball. But really, must you STARE?

This is how it went down each time: Person looks at my belly, opens eyes wide - as if to express complete shock, and then stares at me with this look of combined shock and disgust. Almost as if they wanted to say out loud: Where's the idiot who let you out in public?

It was as if these folks were (1) surprised that someone in my current state was still able to move, let alone walk thru the mall or (2) were fearing that the baby was going to fall out as a I strolled through the mall.

Trust me, while it is difficult to move I'm still quite capable of walking - thank you very much. And, my doctor has assured me that no matter what it feels like, the baby is not going to just FALL OUT.

And last time I checked, pregnant women were still allowed out in public. As it is, I made it a point (several times) to mention to my mom how annoying these gawkers were. I think I did it rather loudly too. Even if they didn't hear me, at least I felt better about it.

Seriously, quit staring . It's rude.

Tired, cranky and very, very pregnant

Yeah I know, I haven't posted anything in almost a week. There's a good reason for that - I don't really have anything to report.

And, I've been too damn tired to blog lately.

A little insight into my world right now.....

• I reached the 36 week milestone today, I am miserably uncomfortable and completely exhausted. I have been taking 2 to 3 hours naps every afternoon, just because I have no energy.

• I have to sleep on the couch every night because my king size bed is not comfortable. This makes me cranky because basically I have been sleeping alone for more than a month. It's very lonely on the couch without Kevin.

• I have to pee every 20 minutes because I have a six pound baby resting on my bladder. I get up at least 2 or 3 times a night just to take another trip to the bathroom. Sure, it's good practice for when Emma arrives and I'm getting up every 2 or 3 hours to give her a bottle....but I need my sleep right now, thank you very much. Lack of sleep is making me cranky.

• I had several people last week say to me: "Oh, you must be having twins." Yeah, that's original. Bet it took a long time to come up with that one. And, NO, I'm not having twins. I'm 9 months pregnant and therefore am just HUGE, but gee, thanks for pointing it out to me. I wasn't aware of how enormous my belly was. Idiots. Stupid people make me cranky.

• In case you haven't caught on, I'm a bit cranky right now. Even the nurse at my OB-Gyn's office has stopped asking me "how are you doing?" -- I think it's rather obvious by now. I've got 3 weeks until my c-section and I'm doing just freakin' peachy.

So there you have it - I'm tired, I'm grumpy and therefore have not been in the blogging mood lately. Of course, maybe I'll just blog to complain for the next 20 days. Who knows, it might make me feel better.

She just keeps growing and growing and.....

Here I am -- bigger than Jolly 'ol St. Nick himself. 33 weeks today -- only 5 more weeks 'til baby Emma makes her first appearance.

The second photo -- well, my dad decided to be funny and put a ball under his sweater. Yeah, everyone make fun of the pregnant chic...that's right!

It's the Great Pumpkin!

No, wait...it's just my big belly!

Here I am....almost 26 weeks along, looking as if I just ate a beach ball for dinner.

Kevin looked at my belly tonight and said "WOW! You weren't that big yesterday." Gee, thanks honey.

It just keeps growing and growing....

Let the cravings begin....

And so the weird cravings begin....

For the past 6 1/2 months I haven't really been craving anything unusual or odd, which is odd in and of itself since I am pregnant. Sure, I developed a sudden need to drink orange juice every day and I am now buying Snyder's Honey Mustard and Onion pretzel bits every week at the store, but that isn't so bad. At least I'm not craving wacky things like pickles and ice cream, together. (Actually, I used to like pickles, until my 1st pregnancy and now I hate them. Weird).

And then it hit me tonight. We were driving home from Target and I suddenly wanted, no NEEDED apple-cinnamon pancakes. It was so strange. I was thinking that I'd just have a bowl of cereal for dinner (we had a big lunch w/ the in-laws), when all of a sudden I WANTED PANCAKES.

There would be no talking me out of making breakfast items for my dinner. Nope, this was a full-blown pregnant craving. I WAS HAVING PANCAKES. NO MATTER WHAT.

So, I came home, mixed up the pancake batter, added some grated fresh apple and some cinnamon and proceeded to make a ton of pancakes.

I ate 5. With butter and syrup (ok, it was "I can't believe it's not butter"....but only because I ran out of real butter yesterday). And a glass of skim milk. A big glass. It was delish!

And the best part....I have leftover pancakes for breakfast tomorrow.

Baby update

Had my 20-week ultrasound today. The verdict is in: it's a girl! Baby looked healthy and happy and was less than thrilled to get her photos taken.

We asked Olivia what she wanted to name her baby sister. She said "Rella" (short for Cinderella). I don't think that name is on the short list of names currently up for review.

As we were sitting at McDonald's this morning, eating Egg McMuffins, Kevin says: "Well, now I have to pay for two weddings. And two chastitiy belts." Too funny.

A strange compliment

As I'm standing at the counter at the post office today, the clerk says to me "You look too good to be pregnant."

All I could say was "thanks."

I think it was a compliment.

But, it seems like a rather odd one.

"Too good to be pregnant" -- what exactly does that mean???? Should I look bad because I'm pregnant? Does this person (a woman) think that all (or most) pregnant women look like hell and I was the exception?

I don't know...maybe my hormonal brain is reading too much into it. But then again, maybe not. Too good to be pregnant. Odd, very odd.

My growing bump.... 14 1/2 weeks

I just keep growing and growing.....

And, in case you were going to be funny

and say "oh, maybe it's twins"...it's not.

There is only one baby in there.

Really. Just one.