First Thanksgiving

Molly celebrated her first Thanksgiving! She was such a good baby, she let all the aunts hold her until dinner and then hung out un her carrier during dinner and barely made a peep. By the time we were almost done she was getting hungry again and she had her second bottle ever, it was like she's been taking them forever! Of course being the bad photgrapher that I am I didn't even get a picture with the turkey outfit on so hopefully someone else can send us one. I am a dope, maybe I should just dress her up again :). Then it was on to Grammie and Poppy's house where she slept the entire time so everyone came over the next day to see her. Cousin Nicholas is now about 8 months and looks like a giant in comparison.

Here are a few pictures. One with Aunt Mary and cousin Elizabeth, and another with cousin Katherine.

Our big excitement of the weekend was Molly had her first babysitter! It was Jenn H.'s birthday Saturday so we all went out to dinner and Molly stayed with John's parent, it was fun but I have to admit it was hard to relax. Not that I was worried about her, I knew she would be fine but I knew once we got home we probably had an hour or two minimum before sleep, and that's because she is so good. I couldn't imagine if she didn't sleep well. Anyway, it was nice to get out and I am sure I will get used to it.

Our Little Fatty

First, I am sorry I haven't been keeping up with the posts. Molly and I are still getting used to things and I know it only takes a few minutes so I will try to be better about it.

Ok, so where are we. Miss Molly is 17 days old!! Amazing, isn't it? The time is going by so fast. For Molly's first two weeks home, John stayed home with us and oh boy did that fly by. Fortunately I am feeling really good and Molly has continued sleeping really well (knocking on wood) so I was ready for him to go back. Today we are ending our first solo week and I can't believe it is over already.

This week we went for Molly's 2 week checkup and she gained 8 oz! She is up to 7 lb 2 oz, which is 4oz over her birth weight. The goal is to be back at the birth weight by 2 weeks and she passed it! She has also grown 1 1/2 inches and is now 20.5 inches.

Molly continues to be a good baby, although she has her moments. Most afternoons she prefers sleeping on me rather than the bassinet these days, and isn't such a big fan of swaddling anymore. If she is swaddled at all it has to be with one arm out so she has access to at least one hand. Yesterday we went to the mall for about 45 minutes, that was fun but she got cranky so we left. I wasn't finding any good christmas outfits for her anyway. I think I may try to go out for a bit tomorrow to see if I can find one. I am afraid if I wait much longer they will all be gone.

Ok, I think we are going to walk around the block!

6 days old!!!

Can you believe Molly is already 6 days old? The past 6 days have flown by. I could barely believe last night was Sunday and we are already into another week. Things are going very well so far. Also amazing :). We have been quite busy, we have had some visitors and everyone just loves Molly, she is so cute! And we have been very well fed by our parents and family..so much for losing that baby weight! I figure I can indulge for a little while, although not being used to all these carbs I find myself very full very fast. Still enjoying my desserts for a change though! Oh and that garlic bread was tasty!

Molly is eating well, we go to the pediatrician tomorrow so we'll find out how she is doing officially then but I can't imagine she isn't gaining weight already. She eats and eats. And she sleeps and sleeps! And would you believe she actually sleeps at night? Two nights in a row with only one feeding and she sleeps the rest of the time. I can handle this so far :)! I keep my fingers crossed though and hope everything stays the same.

Happy Birthday Molly Katherine

The big day finally came! Molly Katherine was born on Halloween, Tuesday, October 31 at 2:43 pm. She weighs 6 pounds 14 oz and is 19 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful! More to come :)

The final stretch

I'm still adjusting to the time change thing I think. It's messing up my eating schedules, and Saturday night seemed like the longest night in history! An extra hour is NOT what a woman needs when she is 39 weeks pregnant :) it only makes labor seem farther away!

So yeah, still no baby. I was pretty uncomfortable over the weekend. Saturday I was in a lot of pain, not really contraction pain although I did have a couple here and there but my inner thighs were killing me. By the end of the day I could barely open my legs. I couldn't even climb in and out of the car, I had to sit and then twist in. Ouch. But Sunday morning I was a little better and although the pressure was still there, they didn't get as bad on Sunday. Last night I had what felt more like a few real contractions and thought maybe things were really going to start, but after about an hour or two they went away and I'm obviously still here. They felt like a painful tightening in my lower abdomen that rolled down into my pelvis and made everything down there painful and swollen.

My exciting news from the weekend though is that we got a camcorder! I am so excited :). I've wanted one for a while and we decided to go get one before the baby came. Yeah! No, John is not going to tape the whole birth, yuck. Just the before and after. Sorry if there is anyone who was really interested in seeing it. So I spent yesterday afternoon figuring out how to use it. It records to mini tapes and to a memory card so I'll be able to transfer stuff right to the computer to share with everyone. And there is a way to transfer stuff from the tapes to the computer as well but I need a DV wire and I don't have one of those so I'll have to get one eventually.

So that's it from here....my next appointment with the OB isn't until Wednesday, which seems like a lifetime away but I know it really isn't. I just have to find some things to keep me occupied until then.

Still here

We're still waiting. Not too much new from here. Yesterday was my most uncomfortable day yet. We went to the stores in the morning which was good, they say walking is good. By the time we were done I had leg cramps in my calves and the inside of my thighs weren't moving much more than an inch or two as I walked. I took that as a good sign that things are progressing, I hope. By the end of last night I was having some more little cramps here and there, but again, nothing consistent. So we went to bed and woke up and not much changed over night other than my legs feel much better this morning so far, although I can still feel the pressure and know it will be back soon.

We are going to get a camcorder today, yeah! I'm excited. Hopefully I picked out a good one, I don't know much about them so I hope this one gets the job done. We are getting the Canon Elura 100. It's on sale at Circuit City, as long as it takes videos of the baby, I can put them on my computer, fix them up a bit and send them out is all I really care about. It will be good for vacations as well.

That's it from here...we'll let you know if anything more exciting happens!

12 more days

Still here...today I was extremely tired. Not sure why. I went to bed early last night and think I slept relatively well, other than getting up just about every hour to use the bathroom. I suppose that could disrupt someone's sleep. But I'm so used to it by now it doesn't even phase me. I woke up very drowsy and a little bit nauseous but forced myself up so I could go see the endocrinologist. She told my numbers were great and she didn't expect me to have any problems at all after the baby is born and I don't have to go for any more visits. Yeah. Then I had a high number after lunch. Oh well.

I also went to my OB yesterday, same old story there. Non stress test, baby moves around, heart rate goes up and down just like they want it to and I leave. They will check me next week to see if I'm dilated at all. She also told me that because I have diabetes they won't let me go too late, which I already suspected but she confirmed. My next appointment, if we need it, will be Wednesday and I'll be 5 days away from my due date. I don't know if they will schedule something then if I still haven't gone into labor. I guess we'll see.

As for signs that I'm going into labor, I really don't know. I had some contractions this morning I think, but nothing really bad. It was a little difficult walking into the doctor's office and then I stopped at the store as well. I just went really slow, and some old man kept looking at me funny. I really wanted to ask what he was looking at, hasn't he ever seen a really pregnant woman before? But who knows, maybe he is worse off than I am and wasn't even really looking at me but just staring blankly. Anyway, again, another reason why I'm better off not spending too much time in public. By the time I got home I was exhausted and took a nap. Walking around isn't as painful, and I keep just having little cramps here and there. One day these things will become regular.

Tick tock...

Yup, I'm still here in case anyone is interested :). Just watching the calendar and wondering when...I have no idea. I tend to have more cramps and contraction type things at night but during the day I have been fine. I actually feel better than I did a few weeks ago and have quite a bit of energy. Maybe that is a good sign.

These are some pictures of us on the Staten Island Ferry from last weekend. We went to my cousin Nate's wedding, it was a lot of fun. We took the ferry over to Manhattan Friday afternoon and had dinner at South Street Seaport with my friend Amanda. It would have been nice to go up to Midtown or something, but I was tired after walking just a few blocks, and we were lazy and took a cab back to the ferry.

I finished work on Thursday, which is sad but good. I'm glad I will (hopefully) have a few days to get some things done and get the house in order before the baby arrives but it is still sad leaving. I don't think it has really sunk in yet that I'm not going to be going to work anymore.

So that's it for now...I think I'm just going to take it easy for the rest of the day and make some dinner. And I'm going to try avoid going to too many more stores, people are really starting to annoy me for the littlest things. Maybe I'm just cranky today.

Happy Birthday to the soon-to-be Daddy!

Yup, that's right. Today is John's birthday! The big 38! Wow is that old...haha :). We don't have too many big plans, I think we are going to dinner. And we'll have some cupcakes. Yum. I figure I can maybe have half of one...maybe...

We have the cutest baby!

Ok, so I might be a little biased...but how cute is this baby??? The pictures are a little fuzzy, sorry...but they came out so good! And it is already 6 pounds 11 ounces! Oh my! I think at the stage they say they grow about a 1/2 pound a week so I think I'm ready to deliver anytime now. Really.

A beautiful Sunday!

Wow it is absolutely beautiful out today! What a lovely fall day. I hope next Saturday is this beautiful for Nate and Jenny's wedding. I can't believe their wedding is next weekend...this time has gone by so fast! Yes, we are still planning to go. I feel really good right now so hopefully nothing changes between now and then. I'm sure it won't and everything will be peachy.

Here are some pictures of the variety of diaper bags we now have! Yes, I got a bright pink bag. But according to my fashion conscious friends, I was told I could not pass up the deal and HAD to get it. I figure if we have a boy I can use it as a beach bag, no one would question a bright pink bag at the beach, right? Anyway, it's a Lilly Pulitzer, which is apparently trendy and VERY expensive but I got it on clearance at Marshall's. Yeah. The other is an Ima Rosenbloom, which is also supposedly very trendy and sold at Mimi and Nordstroms. Also on clearance. Yeah again. It's more purse like, which I think will be nice when I don't want to carry everything with me. The last is John's backpack from Lands End, and also for us to use when we go on longer day trips. We actually got it in Fern Green, which wouldn't save for some reason. I didn't think John wanted to carry pink or flowers. Who knows, maybe the downsizing won't work and I'll end up using this one all the time anyway. A girl can hope to be trendy, right?

We had our child birth class all day yesterday at the hospital. It was really good. The nurse was wonderful, she has been there for 44 years! John asked if she remembered delivering him..haha. But seriously, she probably was there for at least one of the Schmitz babies being born. I think if anything, it answered simple procedural questions for us...which gives us both peace of mind knowing what to expect. They have all private rooms, which will be nice but they don't do everything all in one room like some of the hospitals do now. I can definitely see a good and a bad to both. I can imagine it is nice to get settled into one place, but she made a good point that it will be nice to be in a quieter area once delivery is over. But its a pretty good set up, we have our own private birthing room, with two operating rooms at the end of the hallway for emergency or planned c-sections if necessary. John can come with me in there too, I know some hospitals don't allow that. After birth, we stay in there for about 2 hours with the baby and then they take it to the nursery to give it some meds and clean him or her up for about 3 hours while we rest and move to postpartum, which is just around the corner. Sounds good to me :). The baby will room in with us 24 hours, unless for some reason they need to do tests. All the postpartum rooms are private as well, some being significantly larger than others, hopefully we get a big one.

Today we go back for a 2 hour class on parenting...John thinks he's already an expert because of his child care class he took at Notre Dame. If it was anything like the one I took...I think I could use a refresher course :).

We have a crib!

Yeah, I'm so excited :). We went to the store yesterday to pick up the crib and the bureau. The crib is all set up, we just need to go get the mattress which I may try to do today. The bureau is still in the garage, John is going to call Bri to see if he is interested in "moving furniture" sometime this week. Hopefully he will be, although we may actually make him use those muscles this time. Then all the baby clothes will have a home and we're ready to go!

Time to get the crib!

I think John put the final coat of paint on last night, I'll have to double check that there isn't one more. I don't know much about painting. But that part is basically done, so we are getting the crib and the bureau on Sunday! I called last night to schedule pick up for the crib, and they just confirmed with me that both items are in. Woohoo! Who would have thought the nursery would actually be ready before the baby arrived? :).

Everything else is going pretty well. I have good nights and bad nights sleeping. The past few have been good nights, so I'm feeling energetic today. I'm sure that won't last long. My glucose numbers have been ok, I'm really hoping that I don't have to go on insulin for the last couple of weeks but I have a feeling I might. The nurse had me switch my timing for testing, and I'm doing ok with it, one dinner went over a little. But now my fasting numbers are a little higher than before, I'm not sure why. Maybe because I test earlier my timing is off with my after dinner snack and that affects my fasting? I don't know. At this point I can only do what I can do. I'm not excited about having to take insulin, but I can only control the numbers so much. My meals I can control what I eat, but the fasting numbers are tough...It seems silly to me to go on insulin for only a few numbers going over in a week, but the doctors are much more strict with pregnant women than they are with regular diabetics. My regular OB said she can tell I'm sticking to the diet though because I've lost 3 pounds in the past 5 weeks...which is great. 3 less to lose later...but the specialist is tough, and we'll see what she says next week.

A nursery?

Yeah, we thought that might be a good idea. So here we are at 34 weeks---42 days left and John is painting! Yeah :)!!!!! Here are some before and during pictures. Hopefully soon we'll have the after pictures! With the bathrom *almost* done we decided it was time to tackle the nursery and then go back to the bathroom once the nursery is ready. A couple coats of paint and we can go pick up the crib. Wow. Now we just have to wait for the bureau to come in so I can empty the laundry basket full of baby clothes!

46 days...but who is counting?

That's right, only 46 days left until my due date. The time has gone by so fast. And we're almost ready...yeah right.

Fortunately we have almost everything we need due to the incredible genorosity of our friends and family who gave us so much at the baby shower last Sunday. It was such a great day, and I'm still sorting to see what is really in all of these bags and boxes! Maybe I'll work on that a little bit tonight, before Grey's Anatomy is on of course. Season Premiere night!

Some of you may know that I was having more than a few cramps during the shower, I apologize for being the "slowest present opener every", or so I was told. But every time I moved there was pain. Sitting at least was better than walking around and trying to do stuff. The cramps continued a little bit Monday and Tuesday, since then I haven't had too many, just a few here and there. Sunday was probably the worst, good timing.

I talked to my doctor about my cramping and he said that it sounds like BH contractions and that is normal. He said I had one contraction while I was hooked up to the machine today while having my non stress test, which he said I may or may not have felt. I asked if it was normal to have BH down low and he said that contractions can be felt anywhere on the stomach, and said that you really can't describe it any particular way to describe everyone. A lot of what I have read says they start on top and go down and he said, nope its very normal for them to be down low and stay there. Everyone is different. So that was very reassuring. He also mentioned back sleeping, and said there is nothing wrong with it as long as it is comfortable, which isn't anymore for me...but he was using it as another example of things you can read about how damaging it could be and it just isn't true.

I also asked him about the levels that my doctor is requiring me to meet for my blood sugar, and he said he thought they were a little conservative and that he didn't think a few numbers here and there would warrant insulin but he also said things can change as the pregnancy progresses so not to be surprised if it is harder to keep numbers in check. She called me Tuesday and told me if I had too many more high numbers after dinner we may have to consider insulin. Yuck. He also said that if all my other numbers were fine I probably would only have to take it for dinner time, which makes me feel a little bit better about it. I go to the specialist Monday morning so hopefully I can stay off the insulin...I've been doing pretty well this week.

So overall it was a good appointment, I didn't gain any weight again. Woohoo! I am now measuring 34 cm for 33 weeks...so it looks like I jumped a little in the past week. And baby was moving around just the way its supposed to be.

Checking in

Sorry I haven't been around much. Time is going by so fast and there is so much to do! Everything is going well. I continue to take my blood sugar levels 4 times a day and have been able to manage everything with diet and a little bit of exercise, emphasis on a little bit. I am hoping that if everything goes well again this week, the doctor will reduce the number of times I have to test each day. I would probably still want to test at night since dinner is what can throw me off a little, mostly because it's hard to eat the same things over and over again for dinner and I need a little variety. Variety can cause trouble, but so far so good.

I had my first non stress test yesterday and that went well. I have to go weekly from now on. Basically they strap you to a machine which measures the babies heartbeat and movement. The doctor I went to yesterday was happy with the results after about 15 minutes, but I've heard one of the other docs will likely keep me there for an hour. Ugh. Fortunately, I only have one appointment with her. Everything is still measuring well, and I didn't gain any weight this week. Yeah :)!

Sunday is my baby shower, more yeah! I am very excited. It's going to be fun, although a bit crowded at the house but we'll manage. I'm just happy so many people are able to come. And, although some might argue that I shouldn't have to clean for my own shower, I've been quite content getting lots of organizing and cleaning done. I guess it's putting those nesting instincts to good use and I don't just look crazy since there is a reason for it. John has made great progress on the second bathroom, I think everyone will be rather impressed. And some how I think we're actually going to be able to go to the football game on Saturday. Talk about good time management.

In honor of Britney's new baby, I thought this would be the appropriate Baby song of the week.

I passed!

I had to send my blood sugar levels for the past week to the nurse and I passed! I got a call from the nurse's aide this afternoon and she told me my numbers looked good and I don't need to make any changes. Woohoo! So for now what that means is that I stick to the diet that I am on, which is ok, and keep trying to fit in some exercise. I have to admit that is the hardest part. My inner thighs have been hurting a bit, and I get tired. I know exercise might help, but its so hard to motivate if I'm already tired and hurting. At least I have to walk to get my lunch most days so that is better than nothing.

Only 9 more weeks to go and we are slowly progressing. John is getting a lot of work done in the bathroom, he finished tiling the floor this weekend and is going to work on getting the walls up this week. Then the toilet and and sink can go in next weekend. It will be so nice when it is all done. After the shower, we will put our focus on the nursery. I am sure I've said this before, but it is mostly cleaned out. We decided to keep one of the older bureaus, I think it the color will be close enough to the crib and bureau we bought. We just need to get some new handles on it but home depot didn't have any for some reason. I think John's parents are coming over to get the mattress to the bed this weekend, and then we will be all set to paint.

Tomorrow I am going to meet with a pediatrician, I'm not even sure which doctor it is but it is the practice that my OB recommended. John isn't able to come, he had a meeting scheduled so hopefully they seem good and I don't have too many doubts about them. I guess I should come up with a list of questions to ask just in case. Then I have a check up with my OB. Should be routine...but I wonder when I'll start getting ultrasounds to check on the size of the baby.

Fun appointment

I had my appointment yesterday with the endocrinologist so I can start taking my blood sugar levels. It was going to be a pretty busy day, I had the appointment at 9:20 and then had to head to Hartford as we were hosting a fundraiser for the Senate President. I had gone shopping the night before so I had all the beer, wine and paper supplies for the event in my car, and had already organized the ad book and most of the paperwork needed for the 4 pm fundraiser so I wasn't worried too much about time.

Until, at about 9:50 as I was sitting in the doctor's office and start feeling not quite right. I ask for a glass of water, but it doesn't help and I continue to get that clammy feeling and feel like I might pass out. They take my blood pressure, which was 118/64 when I came in, and it was down to 90/54. My normal blood pressure is 100/60 so I'm not sure how much lower 90/54 is, but they were concerned. They give me a little bit of orange soda to try to make me feel better and it does for a minute but as soon as the APRN starts talking about stuff again...I start feeling sick again. Finally I just had to lay down for about 15-20 minutes until I was back to normal. The nurse told me not to go to work, and John had to pick me up for the doctor's office because she didn't think I could drive. What a mess.

So I had to call work, my boss picked up all the stuff from John, which was so nice of him and Vicki (our office manager) had to take over for me here. Everything worked out fine, fortunately I was pretty organized. It pays not to wait for the last minute to do stuff :).

It was nice to have a day off though, I really didn't do anything and my body felt so relaxed and recovered. None of that late day/evening soreness and tiredness that I am used to. I even went on a cleaning spree before Brian H. came over to "move furniture." Brian was going to help move some stuff down to the garage and out of the soon to be nursery, but the rain never stopped so he had to settle for a couple Sam Lights. So Jenn H., if you are reading this and hear that Bri needs to "move furniture", you're welcome to join him next time!

As for my levels, I think I'm doing pretty good. At least so far...so hopefully it continues this way and I am able to stay off insulin. The nurse recommended pretty much the same diet as I was already doing, so now I'll just find out if the food I'm selecting are the right choices. Apparently all carbs aren't equal. It's still hard to fight off the cookie urge, especially when there are some tasty ones left over from last night from Congress Rotesserie...yuuuum. Oh well...Only 9 1/2 weeks left....

Baby Dreams

So I think last night was the first time I actually had a dream where I saw the baby. I think it was a girl, but not positive. I actually had two dreams.

First I had a dream that I was going to have the baby on Monday. I went in for an appointment and they did an internal and said, wow look at that you're 3 cm dilated! Looks like you're going to have your baby on Monday. I freaked out and said that can't be, I'm not ready...the baby isn't ready...it needs to be in there longer. Then I looked down and could see that I had dropped, my belly was way way down. But they didn't seem concerned at all that the baby would only be 30 weeks. I started crying and didn't know what to do, I was going to call John but for some reason I couldn't and got all overwhelmed because I knew I had stuff going on at work this coming week and so much stuff wasn't done. And I didn't want to walk anywhere or do anything that would encourage labor so I was just stuck in the waiting room at the doctor's office. Then my logic started setting in and said, well how come you aren't admitting me now to slow down the labor and putting me on bed rest? They still didn't care. Baby was coming on Monday.

So then, later on I had a dream that I was somewhere with Vicky and Becca, who is about 15 months old, and I was trying to put both of the babies in the backseat of my car with the car seats, but they weren't installed correctly...they were only tied in with a seatbelt and the LATCH wasn't connected at all. Fortunatley Vicky knew how to fix it. But then my baby was just on the seat with a seatbelt at one point, and its butt kept falling through the crack into the trunk, very strange. Finally, both babies were in their car seats and I realized I hadn't nursed in a while and my baby was hungry but I could tell that Vicky was getting frustrated with me because I was taking so long to do everything. Finally I said we could just go home and I would feed the baby there and hoped the baby would be ok until then. Baby wasn't crying but just looked really weak and I was afraid I was hurting it by not feeding it right then. I think that's about when I woke up.

Very strange indeed. I think the first one stems from the conversation with my boss yesterday where he said he figured by about the 2nd week of September I'll be completely miserable driving back and forth and will want to go part-time, and he thinks I'll end up delivering 3 weeks early. Yikes...oh and he thinks I'm having a boy. I guess the other one is also just a fear of not being ready and the fear of being a mom and doing everything right...needless to say it doesn't make for a good nights sleep.

29 Weeks

Here's my latest belly shot. I'm not sure that I look that much bigger than last time, but the doctor tells me its perfect. So that's all I care about.

I just got back from my doctor appointment. It took forever for them to see me!!!! I am used to going in the morning and I'm one of the first appointments, but today I was at 4 pm and it as 4:50 before they took me. Ugh. But its a Tuesday, so they were happy to actually be done a little after 5 :). The doctor expressed his frustration that we aren't able to get me into a see a specialist faster, they finally got me an appointment for Friday, September 1st which is still 9 days away. He did recommend that I call to see if the dietician or a nurse could see me and train me on how to take my sugar levels before next Friday so at least I can get started. I'll still have to meet with the actual doctor next Friday, but its a start. When I got home I actually had a message from the specialist, so we'll see what they have to say tomorrow.

It looks like I will be at the doctor quite a bit. I am already into my 2 week visits (which is normal, they told me last time I went I would start 2 week visits next time), and then at 34 weeks I think he said he would begin non-stress tests weekly, unless I have to go on insulin. Then non-stress would begin at 32 weeks, weekly. And I can expect an u/s every three weeks to make sure the baby isn't growing too fast...so I'm not sure when that begins, because there aren't that many weeks left! And he told me to expect to go to the specialist weekly, at least at the beginning so they can check my levels.

Besides all that, he said the baby seems great. Still measuring on target, and the heartbeat is still pretty fast so he predicts its a girl. The baby has turned so I'm not breech anymore (I was at my 20w u/s). The head is down, butt is on my left side and legs are on the right. But I think the butt switches sides because the hard lump moves. Baby was moving all over the place when he was trying to get a heartbeat, which I guess is a good thing.

Now if I can just get Tigger and Mountain Kitty to stop fighting life will be good. They have taken to actually chasing each other around the neighborhood, ok, more like Mountain Kitty chasing Tigger, rather than just his regular stalking.