Week 32: "Full of Cash"

Its beginning to look a lot like Christmas at my house this week! Week 32 came and went, and left my house looking and feeling cozy! We finally bought a Christmas tree, and got it in the house. Although I was not impressed with the tree initially, and only agreed to buy it because I could tell Colt was getting aggravated at Lowe's looking at all of the trees, I have now come to accept it for its imperfections. I can't remember if I shared this last time, and I'm too lazy to go back and check previous posts, so I will share it again! I had a dream a few weeks ago about my upcoming 34 week appointment. I was telling the doctor how excited I was to see the baby after all of these weeks, and she said, "Well, do you want to take him out for a little while?" I was thrilled, and of course, wanted to see what he looked like! She "took him out" and let me hold him. He was so cute, and very chubby with big, dark brown eyes, and a lot of dark brown hair that stood up in a cowlick on top of his head. After holding him for a little while, the doctor said I needed to put him back. I woke up shortly after this. All of that to say, the reason I came around to liking the Christmas tree we purchased (besides the fact that it was 50% off when we got to the register) was that when I put it up, and put the lights and ornaments on it, I noticed the top of the tree looks like it has a cowlick. It reminds me of Cash, or at least, what I imagine Cash will look like. Our wall is now adorned with one large snowman stocking (Colt's), one large snowflake stocking (mine), and one small snowman stocking (to match Colt's stocking) that Cash and Moe are sharing. I like to buy a new ornament each year that represents something important that happened in the year. This year I bought a little picture frame ornament, in which I put an ultrasound picture from 20 weeks. My mom bought a cute teddy bear ornament that says "Parents-to-Be" and 2009 on it. I love it! Our house is now completely ready for Christmas!

"Cowlick" at the top of the tree

On Monday night (32 weeks, 5 days) Colt and I met Matt and Christina Reif at Starbucks in Clearwater. I went to high school with the two of them (before they were "The Reifs"). She is only about three and a half weeks behind me in her pregnancy, so it was nice to get to talk with them about all things baby and pregnancy related. They are having a little girl. I can't even count how many women I know who are pregnant right now, and all of them that know the sex of their baby are having boys except two. Baby Reif is one of the two girls! Its too bad they live in Hawaii, or I'm sure we'd have many fun play dates in store for us!

Another fun holiday activity this week was the annual ornament exchange party for the ladies at church, hosted by L'Von Qualls on Tuesday night (32 weeks, 6 days). A few weeks ago she asked if she could combine the ornament exchange party with a baby shower of sorts for me! It was so sweet of her to organize & host it, and so sweet of all of the ladies at the party to pitch in, and present Colt and I with a money tree! We played a party game where we were all asked to write down something about ourselves that we thought no one else would know. I had such a good time getting to know all of the ladies better! I should have taken pictures of all of the food that everyone brought. It was INSANE! One of the highlights of the party was when Cash decided to kick for Sharon (Colt's mother). He is a notoriously shy kicker for anyone but Colt and I, but during the ornament exchange he let his Grandma in on his secret! :) At the end of the night, I left with a money tree, a to-go box of cookies and miscellaneous sweets, and a cookie jar shaped like a fat penguin (which my mother said I resembled, as I was wearing a black shirt). It was a lovely party!

I know its probably silly to have installed the car seat this early, but that was another major accomplishment of week 32. With our car situation, it was necessary that we figured this out ahead of time. I don't remember if I mentioned it in a previous blog, but about 4 weeks ago (November 12th) Colt and I bought a 2005 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Colt needs a larger car to fit all of his equipment that he brings to his gigs. We had to figure out a way that he could fit all of his equipment in the car, without having to take the car seat base out every time he loaded it. We figured it out. My car may be a different story. I haven't tested it out yet, but I've been reading about car seat installation in a Mustang, and many of the women say they can fit the car seat, but not the base. Hopefully this week I can give it a whirl! Speaking of my car...I had quite a scare earlier this week. Saturday night (Dec. 5th), when Colt was at his gig, I got bored sitting in the house, so I decided to go down to New Tampa to do some Christmas shopping and get Starbucks. My car had been acting up two days prior, but Colt changed the terminals on my battery, and it was working perfectly all day on Friday (Dec. 4th). I should have noticed when I got in the car on Saturday night that something wasn't right, but I think the urge for a Starbucks "Solo, Grande, Two-Pump, Mocha Latte" was too strong. Actually I did notice something was a little bit strange when I got in the car, because the lights on the radio and dash board were slightly dimmed. I thought that if I drove it around for a little while, the alternator would charge the battery, and everything would be fine. I started out of the neighborhood, and decided I would take back roads to New Tampa instead of jumping on I-75 like I usually do, just in case I had any problems. I got all the way up to 56th and Fowler when I noticed that my CD started skipping, and the man's voice on my book on tape was distorted. I decided to turn back around and head home. As I made my u-turn at the light, the car started trying to die on me, but I wouldn't let her! I prayed all the way that I would make it back to the house, or at least the neighborhood. Did I mention it was one of the coldest nights we've had in a while? I hit green lights the entire way home, and I made it all the way back to the light at Temple Terrace Highway and 78th Street before she died. I was turning into my neighborhood when I realized that I couldn't accelerate, and that I was basically just coasting. The brakes still worked thankfully, but I had my hand on the emergency brakes just in case. She conked out two streets before my in-laws house. I called Buddy and Sharon around 8:30pm, and they were there to rescue me in a matter of minutes. I have had alternator problems before, and I knew that's probably what it was. Buddy and Sharon pushed my car over to the side of the street and Buddy took the battery out so he could have it charged on Sunday afternoon. Long story short, my car has a new alternator. I'm thankful that Buddy and Sharon were there to rescue me!

I know I've mentioned how different the baby's movement has been in recent weeks, but I feel the need to mention it again. Of course, it was cool to feel the baby kick earlier in my pregnancy, but his movement is so different now, its amazing. It used to feel like a quick little nudge from some shapeless blob inside me every now and then, but now it feels like a human...like a baby. I can feel it all over my stomach, not just in one area. I feel like my belly is "full of him". I'm full of Cash. :)

I feel as though I should address my weight gain. This is something I'm sure people are curious about, as I would be curious if I were reading this about someone else. It will also be helpful in judging my progress in future pregnancies should they ever happen (Lord willing). Ok, here goes... So far, I've gained about 26 pounds, according to the doctor last week, but probably 27 pounds by now. Weight gain has NOT been something I've been particularly worried about for a while now. In the beginning of my pregnancy I was worried about it, but as I've progressed, I've realized there is nothing I can do about it, short of starving myself and being a bad mother! I've been eating normally, not gorging myself on junk food, but I'm also not eating salads at every meal. I'm pretty pleased with 27 pounds at this point. If I can keep myself from gaining 20 pounds in these last 7 weeks, I'll be a happy Mama! That's all I have to say about that. :)

I have a feeling these next few weeks are going to be the longest weeks of my life, thus far. As I type this, I have to take short breaths, and gently try to nudge the baby down because he is so far into my ribs its insane. Its beyond annoying trying to propel myself out of bed, about four times throughout the middle of the night to go to the bathroom. I can't lay on my back for very long because my ligaments start pulling and began to hurt. When I wake up in the morning, I have to be careful not to stretch my calf muscles, which I used to do almost instinctually, because I will get horrible charley horses and have to jump out of bed and walk on it to make it go away. This has happened many times. I've never been plagued by so many problems at one time...but its never been more worth it. I can deal with this for as long as its necessary. The reason these weeks are feeling so long is due more to the fact that I can't wait to see his face, and hear him cry for the first time. I think that will be amazing. Hearing the voice of the baby that has been silently curled up inside my body for the last 9 months. The good news is, I'm still wearing my wedding rings, and haven't really had any swelling so far...knock on wood.

IN CONCLUSION, for all of you that are so over reading this everlasting post by now, I thought I would talk about my birth plan. My birth plan is to have a baby. :) A lot of my friends that are having babies around this time have awesome birth plans, that are geared toward a natural delivery. I wish I was strong enough to say that I was going to go au naturale but I know myself to well. If there's a pain reliever available, I'll take two, thank you! I don't want to get too caught up in a birth plan, only because things can change so quickly. I could go into labor with a natural birth plan, but change my mind and beg for the epidural and I wouldn't want to feel bad about that. I could go into labor thinking that I'm going to get an epidural, but arrive at the hospital to late, or miss my window of opportunity, and I wouldn't want to be thrown off by that either. Both of those options could be thrown out the window if I need a c-section, which is obviously not preferable, but sometimes a necessity. All of that to say, I don't want to expect labor to be any certain way. I think I'll just plan to take it as it comes. But like I said, I'm totally jealous of my friends who have made up their minds to do it naturally, and are sticking with it. More power to you ladies!

Week 32 was lovely! I am now 33 weeks, 2 days and going strong. Jamie Keller (also pregnant with a little boy, 9 days farther along than me), sent me a recipe for eggplant parm that is "guaranteed" by the restaurant that makes it, to induce labor. I'm going to give it a whirl around week 38! Thanks for reading everyone! Sorry this was so long.