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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Bedtime woes: NO MORE!

I am happy to report that our three weeks of "sleep training", if you want to call it that, are complete.

The past three nights, I have left the room after tucking Andrew in, kissing and hugging him, giving him his sippy of water, and making sure his favorite blanket is on him.

It's a nice change from 45 minutes - 1 hour of me lying next to him while he dug his feet into my back, scraped his fingernails along the wall, poked at my face, and goofed off. It just wasn't good, especially when there were many times he wasn't going to sleep until midnight or later! It was pretty ridiculous.

Anyway, you'll recall that he used to run to the door and start banging his head if I tried to leave the room. I really was at my wit's end.

Two nights ago, I heard him come to the door and say, "mom? mom? mom?" but I just ignored it and then I heard him crawl back in bed. Five minutes later, I heard him snoring away.

Last night, he didn't get out of bed at all. All he did was say, "head? head? head? head?" about 30 times before giving up. He likes his blankets over his head for some reason, so that's what he was asking for. I know he is perfectly capable of arranging his own blankets and was only looking for me to come wait on him.

This is AWESOME and I have plenty of time before the new baby arrives to let this new routine settle in.

For those of you with high-needs toddlers: if you want to try this, this is what we did per the pediatric specialist we saw:

1) 3-4 nights of me sitting on the side of the bed, on top of the covers, facing out.

2) 5 nights of me sitting on the floor next to his bed.

3) a week-and-a-half of me sitting by the door of his room, still inside his room (he likes his door shut).

4) Finally, me leaving the room after tucking him in.

We follow a routine and read for 1/2 hour every night before bed, then I tell him when he has one more book left, and he picks out his last book. I then tell him it's time to go to sleep and I tuck him in, kiss him, hug him, and he actually asks for the lights to be turned off. I leave the room promptly and don't linger, closing the door behind me. He stays in bed now.

Monday, January 25, 2010

Back from the ultrasound

Everything went just fine. The ultrasound was pretty quick but they took some measurements. She's estimated to be 5 lbs, 1 oz and that's the 21st percentile, so she's just on the smaller side. I think they said she measured at 34w1d. The doctor will call me tomorrow with the official report. She got the hiccups while we were in the ultrasound and we got to see her practice breathing. She was kicking the wand, too. I got to see her sweet face as well! She tried to look between the legs, just to be sure, but she wasn't cooperating. The fluid level looked good.

Oh yeah, and one other thing. The u/s tech was asking if I had a name for her and I told her, and then I said that my son was named Andrew. She said that a friend of hers had two kids named Andrew and Elise. How weird is that?! I thought it was a sign that I definitely picked the right name.

Here she is . . .

Please keep me in your thoughts . . .

I had my 36 week appointment today and I only gained one cm from last time (I'm at 33 now and I was at 32 at my 34w checkup).

Heartrate was 150. I'm feeling movement and everything.

Because I'm still measuring small and only gained 1 cm, she did order an ultrasound for 2:30 today. She said she's not worried, but wants to make sure it's not low amniotic fluid, or a problem with fetal growth. She said it could just be a small baby. Her official diagnosis was "small for gestational age".

I am nervous, but I think everything is okay. I'll probably have to go by myself because DH is home with Andrew and there's nobody to watch him. I'm going to call my mom now and see if she can get my sister to fill in for her at work and see if she can meet me there (they work at the same place).

I hope this is nothing serious! :(

Friday, January 22, 2010

My husband is being a turd.

He says he's not coming with to the hospital when I go into labor, that he'd rather stay home with Andrew. I know we could find someone to watch him because, well, if I'm in labor SOMEONE will watch him!

He says it was so boring and long last time. I kind-of want him there. He says I can have my mom go instead. Okay, fine, but what if something (not like it would, but what if) happened to me? Wouldn't he want to be there?

Hopefully, he's just kidding. He has been saying this from the beginning though.

My top annoyances.

Every once in awhile, I think of things that bug me and I have always thought that I should start a list. Here we go, in no particular order.

Things that annoy me:

1. People who don't push their chairs in after they get up from a table. I don't know why this bugs me, but it does. I have pushed chairs back in in the staff lounge before.

2. When people don't put a comma after a city and before the state when addressing an envelope (or in context, when writing).

3. When people say "drownded" instead of "drowned".

4. People who clip their fingernails in public. Ew!

5. Adults who constantly type like they're ten years old (i.e., "cant wait 2 B wit mah man"). This is prevalent on Facebook (thankfully, not amongst my friends, but I see comments from friends of friends on their statuses).

6. When people walk extremely slow and walk right down the middle of the aisle in the store. Move over!

7. People who lick their fingers to separate paper before handing it out.

8. people who dont use any punctuation whatsoever and seem to have no clue how and when to capitalize

9. People who complain all the time about pregnancy or their children. Be happy you're blessed!

10. People who ask you questions and then start doing something else and don't pay attention, or they start talking again -- MIL does this all the time!

11. People who turn from the driving lane or who don't move over to the side of the road before turning.

12. People who throw cigarette butts out their car windows.

13. When people talk to me with really dark sunglasses on -- I am an "eye contact" person and I have no idea where to look, so my eyes go back and forth. It drives me ntus!

14. People who mumble.

15. People with weak, soggy handshakes (this happens in my line of work, HR -- I do a lot of handshaking before and after interviews).

16. Cashiers who give you the bills first and then the change on top of the bills.

17. When the waitstaff come to your table and ask you how the food is after you have just taken a huge bite (I hate talking with food in my mouth).

18. Stuff on my hands with no sink in sight.

19. Young kids with cell phone addictions.

20. Pyramid schemes and the idiots who try to sell them.

21. Strong perfumes! This is a biggie for me -- it causes me to get bad headaches and I hate having to take pills because of someone else's seeminly unawareness of threshhold.

22. Cheap junk my MIL gives us from thrift shops (but it was only $.25)!

23. People who don't realize that "a lot" is two words.

24. People who unneccessarily use apostrophes (it's not "shirt's" when you're talking about more than one shirt -- the shirt doesn't own anything!).

25. People who are exceedingly wasteful.

26. People who say "preventative" when they really mean "preventive". "Preventive" is the verb and "preventative" is the noun.

27. People who don't understand the difference between "there", "their", and "they're".

28. People who describe someone as being "really good at computers".

29. I know someone (who shall remain nameless) who has cable internet but believes she must pay for AOL Broadband in order to get "e-mail service". She doesn't understand the free providers . . . worse yet, she is our "IT" person!

30. When you call the number on the new credit card and you get the human instead of the automated system. No, I don't want anything else!

31. When people stand by you and breathe really heavy, waiting for you to complete a task (a co-worker does this).

32. When you try on a shirt that is super cute, but the sleeves are a tad too short.

33. Ankle socks, unless they are being worn while working out.

34. Black shoes with brown pants or brown shoes with black pants.


I'm sure there are more, but this is all I can think of right now.

Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Holy moly -- 35 weeks and 35 days to go!

I can't believe how close I am getting. I really am in the home stretch now. I am curious to see how Monday's appointment goes--if I am still measuring behind, they will do an ultrasound just to make sure she is growing properly and that there's enough fluid. I have a feeling everything is just fine and that I'm only measuring behind because she has dropped and I don't make big babies. (Fine with me!)

I am still very comfortable. No shortness of breath, no waddling, no swelling, blood pressure is great . . . textbook pregnancy! :)

We will find out if I'm GBS positive at my next appointment too (well, the swab will be done). Last time I was and I'm hoping this time I'm not. I've been chugging Kefir and hope the probiotics help keep my system "normal". It'd be nice not to have to get those dumb antibiotics during labor.

Sunday, January 17, 2010

Yet another funny Andrew story . . .

I just keep 'em coming, don't I?

So, Friday at work I got an e-mail from DH. He was doing our taxes and Andrew was sitting on the floor reading his Tails book. It has flaps that open and things that pull out and slide and whatnot.

Suddenly, Andrew says, "stuck! stuck!"

Dad says, "What's stuck?"

Andrew says, "ween"! (lol, his word for "penis")

Dad looks and he had closed his book on his ween. OMG, I was sitting at my desk just laughing out loud at this e-mail. It made my day!

Saturday, January 16, 2010

34 week appointment update!

Well, I am measuring small (32 cm for the fundal height), but that's okay. . . because it's because she has dropped!!

The doctor confirmed that she is head down. The heartrate measured around 140, and everything else looks good. I scheduled the rest of my appointments.

The next appointment I will have the Group B swab and I would imagine they will start checking me at either that appointment or the next one.

She did say that if I am still measuring small next time (she said one time is not a pattern), they would do an ultrasound just to make sure the fluid levels are okay and that she is measuring on track. She said it's most likely just because she dropped and because I make small babies (Andrew was 6 lbs, 6 oz.)

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

34 weeks...belly pic!

I don't think I have changed much at all from 2 weeks ago.

They DO exist!

Other mothers like me! I met another AP mother on Monday! I was out after work shopping for nursing bras at Target and she just started talking to me about the bras, and mentioned something about getting her use out of them. I told her that I nursed my son for over 25 months and she said she nursed her son for just a little longer than that. We ended up talking for over an hour, and it's amazing how much we have in common! Her kids are spaced 2 1/2 years apart too, with her son being the older one. Even our boys had similar personalities.

Also, she had two at-home waterbirths (midwife-attended) and the midwife she had sounded just awesome. Not that I'm doing a home waterbirth, but I have no problem with people who do.

LOL, we even talked about MILs. Are all MILs crazy?

I am so excited! I made a friend! In real life! I gave her my FB info and she friended me and we are going to get our kids together soon.

I will say that this area is very "mainstream", so it was refreshing to meet someone who shares similar ideas and doesn't think I'm crazy like everyone else IRL (we have a low breastfeeding rate in the Midwest, an even lower "in public" breastfeeding rate, as in I have never seen another mother NIP, and a 90% circumcision rate--to say I am "not the norm" is not an understatement).

Just a disclaimer: It's not that I only want to be friends with people like me, because I have friends who have different parenting styles and I'm still obviously friends with them. It'll just be nice to have a friend who's not going to be offended if I pull out my breast to feed my baby. We can nurse together and talk about life without either of us feeling weird! That gives me a warm feeling inside.

Monday, January 11, 2010

Nothing new to report!

I am one of those people who has easy, boring pregnancies, I guess! That's a good thing. I am still very comfortable with no complaints. There is no swelling to report, but I didn't swell at all last time (even the OB was impressed at my last appointment that my ankles were still ankles and not cankles). :)

I can't believe I'm almost 34 weeks!

(I am approaching the 1 year anniversary of when I found out I lost the last baby, and while it will be a little hard, this year on 1/16, I will have my little girl still growing healthy and strong inside of me. It was on 1/21 that the miscarriage process started on its own while I was supposed to be enjoying my Florida vacation.)

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

I just embarrassed myself!

So, at work (nursing home, remember?), we have this aviary (with birds) in our front waiting area. The residents love it, visitors love it, etc.

Anyway, the maintenance people take care of the daily stuff: food, water, etc., but four times a year, this guy comes from South Dakota to deep clean the aviary. He takes all the birds out and gives everything a good clean. He uses this REALLY yummy smelling cleaner--it smells like almond/cherry--kind of like Pledge, but BETTER.

Anyway, I'm sitting in my office when suddenly I catch the scent of it. I figured the bird man must have arrived. So, I dial out to the secretary and do the voice dial thing so it comes out over her speakerphone and she doesn't have to pick up. I say, "Is the bird man here?" She says, "yes". I say, "Oh, I figured so, because I smell that cleaner he uses and it smells SOOOOOOO good". She giggled and I said, "okay then" and hung up.

She comes over to my office and informs me that she better turn down her volume because the bird man heard what I said! So did another co-worker in her office.

But it does! It smells so good! I'm just thinking if someone overheard my conversation and they didn't know what I was referring to, it might be taken wrong. Like Office Sexy Sarah talks dirty!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Happy New Year, everyone! 2010 will bring me my baby girl...

Check out these cute outfits! I picked up the pink sleeper on the left when I was at TJ Maxx (it's Carter's, and I love their stuff). The outfit on the right is one my sister gave to me from Old Navy for Christmas. The little hat came from the hospital--at my last appointment they gave it to me (volunteers make them for all new mommies). Anyway, just thought I'd share some pics!