The first few days home and newborn follow up appt!

Haven is doing GREAT!!! She is 4 days old today! ♥

She slept all day the first day home and then the first night home was rough. My milk hadn't come in yet so Haven was wanting to nurse constantly from 10:00pm to 3:00am and would NOT sleep and was hungry and fussy. Ever since then though, she has been a complete ANGEL! My milk came in (which I so did not even have ANY discomfort this time!) and that has made my little chunker VERY happy indeed! Last night she slept great! Every couple of hours she'd make some little hungry sounds, I'd feed her and change her if she needed it and then she'd fall right back to sleep! Hopefully she keeps that up, I'm not even tired today! :)

Today we had our follow up visit with the lactation consultant. She said that she appears to be very, very healthy! She has some very mild jaundice, but she said not to even worry about it since it appears to be on it's way out anyway. Her level was an 11. Haven is doing great with her weight as well. When she left the hospital she was at 9lbs, 2 oz and today she was 9lbs, 2 oz which is not a big decrease at all for such a big baby and she has not lost any additional weight. The lactation consultant was very happy and said she will for sure be back to her birth weight and then some by her 2 week appointment. (Which I made with her pediatrician for Oct 13th). The lactation consultant also said that Haven acts like a much, much older baby! She put her on her stomach in the bassinet and she was holding her head up and looked like she was about to crawl away! :) She said to watch out, she'll be rolling over in no time! No fair, I want my baby to stay a baby forever!!!! She is already in clothes that I didn't think she'd be wearing for a long time as well and her newborn diapers are getting too small, I'm going to have to return the couple of packages that I have!

Venily is still doing really well with Haven, though she's a little obsessive. I think she thinks she's the coolest doll ever, haha! She is CONSTANTLY asking where Haven is, what's she doing, can I kiss her?, can I touch her?, can I hold her?, etc. It's really sweet, but once you say yes to anything she wants to do it a million times, which can get annoying!

Hopefully putting up more pics today!

♥ Haven's Birth Story! ♥

I will start from the beginning again.

Saturday the 26th (at 40 weeks, 3 days pregnant) Jason and I decided that we'd do everything we could to get her out that day! We even walked around Lily Lake (which is about a 2 1/2 mile walk). I was having some BH contractions while walking and feeling a lot of pressure, but I felt perfectly fine. When we got home, Rick, Lisa, and Ricky decided to come over and see Venily and Jason went off in the woods to continue building his new bicycle trail, lol.

I was down in the basement getting something for Venily when I first thought my water broke at about 4:30pm. But then I thought maybe I peed my pants or something (lol, though I've never done that before, even while pregnant!). I went back upstairs and was in the bathroom when I felt another gush of water. I still wasn't sure though, so I didn't say anything. I was going to wait until Jason got home to see what we should do, so I just pretended that everything was fine as I started cleaning things up and getting things ready in case we were going to the hospital. I was having HUGE doubts though since I just read that less than 15% of women have their water break before they go into labor. Then, when it was still leaking out a bit later, I started to feel a little more confident that it had.

Jason got home and I told him and he took the fastest shower that I have ever seen him take before, lol, and wanted me to call the hospital right away. I called Labor & Delivery and they told me to come over and they'd check me to see if my water had in fact broke. We packed up our bags and headed out.

We got to the hospital at around 6:00/6:30pm. They put me in triage first, but after looking at my pad said that my water had obviously ruptured, so they didn't even need to test it and I went straight into a labor and delivery room. I was checked and was at 3cm. According to the monitor, I was having contractions 4-5 minutes apart. I could feel them, but they felt like my normal BH, not painful at all. If I had been home, there is no way I would have gone to the hospital, lol.

At 9:30pm the contractions had picked up quite a bit and I started getting nervous that if I waited too long, they wouldn't give me an epidural. The nurse checked me and I was at 4cm and 80% effaced. She said I could have the epidural if I wanted it, but she warned me that sometimes it slowed down the labor completely so I decided to wait a little longer. I really wished that I hadn't though, lol!! The contractions were painful, but tolerable. I could talk through them, but they hurt.

At 10:30pm I knew I wanted the epidural! The contractions were really painful and I couldn't talk or open my eyes through them. They felt a lot better while I was sitting up, but when I did, they would space out more and I wanted them to hurt and speed up the process! I was scared of waiting too long and not being able to get the epidural. I was checked again and I was at 5cm. About 15-20 minutes later, I got the epidural. It went fine. Didn't hurt too bad to get it, but at that point the contractions were one on top of the other and getting REALLY painful. When he was done, he said that in 10-20 minutes I should notice a definite improvement. I DIDN'T. With each contraction, he kept asking me if that one was any better and it wasn't. He said "well, they should get better within a couple of minutes" and he left.

My nurse noticed that I was still in a LOT of pain so she wanted to check me again. The pain had actually gotten even WORSE after the epidural so she knew something wasn't right. She said it was probably one of 2 things. Either I had progressed really fast or she was going to need the anesthesiologist to come back in and fix it. When I was checked, I was already 10cm!! My body had moved too fast though for the epidural to work. She called my doctor right away and said he was going to be there in 15-20 minutes. I thought there was no way that I was going to make it that long! I started shaking really badly and had to breathe like crazy to get through the contractions. I held on tightly to Jason with both of my hands. This was SOOO not how I was with Venily! With Venily I had almost no pain at that point!

The nurses were getting nervous and thought they were going to have to deliver her, but my doctor showed up just in time. Literally! Haven wanted OUT!! I only pushed about 2 times before her head was out! And WOW was it different than pushing with Venily! I felt really bad, burning pain. With Venily it didn't hurt to push AT ALL! I was laughing though when they told me to push as soon as I felt a contraction b/c it hurt so bad all the time that I didn't know if I was having a contraction or not, haha. When Haven's head was out, they told me and I was able to lean all the way over and see it! ♥ It was soooo amazing! With Venily I closed me eyes the whole time and was really focused. Looking at Haven's little face, I already could see that she looked JUST LIKE VENILY!! I pushed one more time and her shoulders came out, along with the rest of her body. They put her on me right away and I was just SOOOO IN LOVE!!! And as soon as she was out, the pain was COMPLETELY gone. I did have a small tear this time and had to get that stitched up, but I think it has been a lot better than the 1st degree episiotomy that I had to have last time. Jacki took pictures during the birth and my MIL took a video with her camera. I'm so glad they did. It turned out so good!

Haven was born on Saturday, September 26th (though just barely, lol) at 11:44pm. I was in SHOCK when they told me that she was 9 pounds, 9 ounces and 21.5 inches long!!! Head circumfirence was 14inches. I KNEW Haven was going to be bigger than Venily, but I didn't realize how much bigger! Venily was 7lbs, 8oz and 20in long. No wonder it hurt to push her out, lol, she was 2+ lbs more. And no wonder she was so strong inside of me, haha, she didn't stop kicking and moving through the whole labor process either! I'm surprised I only gained 25 pounds with her though!

She looks EXACTLY like Venily. Like I've gotten deja vu a million times with her so far, I can't believe how much they look a like! Haven seems to have a slightly lighter complexion than Venily did though and a little bit lighter of hair, and a little less hair than Venily. Her eyes are also more of a medium blue than a dark blue (like Venily's were).

So far, Haven has been a REALLY good baby! She is nursing GREAT!! I have not had a single problem with her nursing. With Venily it took a couple of days to get the whole process down, but with Haven, she came out knowing JUST what to do! She is sleeping good too. Doesn't cry very much. Just when I change her diaper. Last night a nurse came in and pricked her heel and squeezed blood out of it for 20 minutes straight and she didn't cry at all but then I went to change her diaper and she starts crying, lol. Everything is looking good with Haven too. She passed her hearing test, doesn't appear to have jaundice, and is going to the bathroom and eating right on schedule. The only thing is that she SPITS UP!!!! :( I hope she outgrows it! Venily spit up every day, 20 times a day, for about 10 months before she stopped! While we were in the hospital Jason was FREAKING out about her spitting up. He was so scared she was going to choke on it. He called the nurse at least 6 times to make sure she was okay!

I'm doing good too. Everyone kept telling me that they couldn't even tell that I just had a baby, so that's nice! Hopefully I'll be back to my old self again right away like last time! My bleeding seems to be a lot less than it was last time even, so that's good and my stiches don't hurt very much at all. I am having some pain with my uterus contracting back to normal, especially while nursing, but I am taking Motrin for that and it's helping.

Jason is doing WONDERFUL as a second time Daddy! I think it helps that Haven came out the size of a 2 month old, lol! He hasn't been afraid to hold her or change her diaper or anything this time around! And she already has him wrapped around her finger, just like her big sister!!

Venily is doing really well also. She was gone for TWO nights from us and did great! (She has NEVER been away from us before so it was a really big deal!). She spent both nights at my Mom's and had a really fun time! When she saw Haven for the first time, it was the CUTEST thing ever!!! She was so excited and wanted to keep kissing her and kissing her and kissing her!! I had someone tape it with my camera, but it turns out they didn't push the button and none of it got recorded! :( Venily has been testing us quite a bit though at the hospital and now that we are home. I feel bad because she has been so out of routine lately and things have changed so much now that she has a new sister, but we are still trying to be pretty strict with her. She LOVES Haven so much though! I so can't wait to watch them grow up together, I am beyond excited about it! They are going to be such good friends!

Haven goes back to the hospital Wednesday morning to get her weight checked and check for jaundice and all that. And I need to schedule her a 2 week appointment with her pediatrician which I will also try to schedule Venily's 2 year well check that day as well.

Thank you to everyone who has congratulated us and stopped by!! We are so happy to have this new addition into our lives at last!! I will try to put up more pictures tomorrow if I get the time. Here are some of the birth pics that Jacki took! Isn't she amazing?! It's sooo hard not to cry while watching it! :) Thanks again Jacki!!! ♥


Haven's Birth

♥ She's here! ♥

And so absolutely PERFECT!!!

She was born on September 26th at 11:44pm.

She was a GIANT 9 pounds, 9 ounces!!! And 21.5 inches long!! Head circumference- 14inches.

I will write her birth story and put it up tomorrow along with some pictures!! She looks IDENTICAL to Venily though, except with lighter hair!! :)

I am so happy right now!!! I can't stop looking at her, she is AMAZING!!!!! ♥

AT THE HOSPITAL!!!

Jason and I walked around the lake (about 2 1/2 miles) among "other" activities trying to get this baby to come. I wasn't getting any contractions, but I felt a lot of pressure. My water broke at like 4:30, but I wasn't sure at all so I waited around for awhile. It kept leaking, so I was pretty sure it did, but really uncertain. I called L & D and they told me to come in. As soon as they looked at my pad, they said "Yep, definitely ruptured!". :)

I was checked a while ago and was at 3cm. I can feel the contractions but they don't hurt a single bit. According to the monitor they are coming at about 4-5 minutes apart!

YAY!!!!! I can't wait to see my baby girl!!! We're hanging out and watching Arrested Development! :)

Hopefully holding my little girl by tonight!!!!!!!!! Will update later, lots of people here!

Trying to stay busy!

Well, I'm 40 weeks, 3 days pregnant as of today! I'm trying to stay busy so that I stop obsessing about when she is going to be here. Jason and I went out to dinner and a movie the other night, which was really nice. (At least my Mom didn't take off 3 days of work for NOTHING). I've also been working on Venily's baby book! I spent hours on it yesterday and I still have a lot left to do... I am REALLY going to make sure and stay up-to-date with Haven's!

It is really nice knowing that at the MOST I only have 2 more days until I get to see Haven, but I really can't understand what is taking her so long! At this point with Venily, I already had an 8 day old baby!!! I am going to have to pack some bigger clothes for her in her hospital bag, just in case she's HUGE!!

Jason has been driving me absolutely crazy! I'm so glad that it's finally the weekend and that he doesn't have work. He has been making sure that there is someone here to babysit me the whole time and he was calling and checking up on me a million times a day. He doesn't like me going ANYWHERE by myself and even gets mad when I go for walks by myself. I have a feeling that once this labor starts, it's going to be WAY longer than we are anticipating since she is already not cooperating! I really hope not though! I really wish she'd make an appearance TODAY!!!! Like any minute now would be great... I'm not even having that many BH anymore! :(

Alright, I'm going to work on my baby books some more until Venily wakes up from her nap and then go on another LONG walk!!! Come on Haven... I want to see her so badly and I don't want to have to experience Pitocin nor do I want to have to be at the hospital so early Monday morning!

Doctor Appointment- 40 weeks, 1 day

Well, we officially have an end date!! Everything is still looking really good, it's just a matter of waiting now, but my doctor did schedule me to be induced Monday morning at 6:00am if she's still not here by then. But my doctor said that he REALLY thinks I'll have had her by then and then he said "but I keep saying that and you keep proving me wrong!". LOL! That will put me (according to my doctor's due date for me) at 41 weeks exactly and by my "real" due date at 40 weeks, 5 days. Soooo.... we wait some more!!

I had contractions last night from 1:30- 3:30am, but they eventually stopped. :( No other indications that the baby is coming any time soon. Guess we will be walking and walking some more, though so far it hasn't helped!

Pregnancy Progression

I'm bored waiting for Haven to get here, lol! And I'm so sick of doing things "one more time" before she's here! :)

And another...

I'm going to miss having a big baby belly! :)

40 WEEKS!!! Oh my goodness!

I am so stunned that I'm still pregnant!! SOOO stunned! I just can't believe that today is my due date and I'm not holding my little princess yet!

Well, here are my 40 week belly pics that I thought I'd never have to take, lol! She is so huge now, lol! Luckily still no stretch marks, but I really wonder how big she is going to be! I think close to 8 pounds!



At 40 weeks...
* I'm at 145 pounds still (+25 pounds total gain)
* Feeling surprisingly well! My back feels a lot better than it did a few weeks ago and I am only getting up 1-2 times a night (though I can NEVER go back to sleep b/c a million things go through my mind!)

I REALLY hope today is the day! My new silly logic is that I was 5 days early, so Venily was 5 days early. And Jason was born on his due date so Haven will be born on her due date! HAHA!

I have my doctor appointment tomorrow at 2:00. I think after Venily's "ABC, Music & Me Class" today I'm going to try and reschedule my appt for earlier in the morning. I really want to see what the game plan is now! I'm scared to death of being induced, but I also don't want to be pregnant FOREVER!! :)

Waiting, waiting, waiting...

Nope, definitely didn't have her over the weekend! I've been walking every single day among other things that are supposed to get you to go into labor, but NOTHING!! Just some Braxton Hicks contractions. No other signs though!

I think she's not coming because we are TOO prepared!! My house is is order, all of my bags are packed and in the van, it is just way too convenient for us to have her right now and she knows it! My mom has off for the next 3 days, so I REALLY hope she comes soon so my mom can help out with Venily!

I am trying to be patient though! I just wish my doctor wouldn't have gotten it into my head that she'd be here by the weekend! (He was really convinced!) I am feeling really good though, so that's a plus! I feel better than I have in weeks! My back doesn't really even hurt that bad any more and my energy level is great! I don't really even feel that pregnant except that she is CONSTANTLY trying to get out, lol! I told her there is only one way out, but she's determined to break through my sides!

I hope she comes soon! (And NOT in the middle of the night!). We are getting phone calls CONSTANTLY asking if I'm having her yet. NO!! lol. We'll let you know! :)

Well, I've never been this pregnant before...

39w, 3 days today! So needless to say, Haven didn't come yesterday! :(

I walked for about an hour in the morning with Venily yesterday and then some more with Jason and Venily when Jason got home from work, but still nothing. BH contractions are coming and going, but no other signs that labor is going to start soon. I am getting impatient! I am 100% ready for her to come TODAY!! I wish my doctor wouldn't have gotten my hopes up so much by being so sure that she'd come by this weekend, because if she doesn't, OH will I be mad, haha!

I think I will clean up around here some more and then do some more walking!! Come on little girl, we ALL want to see you now!!!!

Doctor Appt- 39 weeks, 1 day!

YAY!!!!!! Baby should be here within the next couple of days!!!!

Everything is looking good still and when I was checked my cervix was soft, head's down low, and I'm 1-2cm dilated!!!! So exciting since I've never been dilated at an appointment before!

The doctor said he wouldn't be surprised to see me tonight or tomorrow, but probably definitely by this weekend! Early afternoon tomorrow is what I'm hoping for. I want a nice night's sleep, get up and get ready in the morning (take a shower, do my hair, pack up my stuff) and then go to the hospital, lol! Yeah, I'm dreaming...

I CAN'T WAIT!!!! Going to do whatever I can to get this labor going! :)

39 weeks pregnant!!!

Hopefully this is my last weekly update! I REFUSE to make it to 40 weeks! I had Venily at 39w, 2d. Haven has agreed to do everything in her power to come on Thursday or Friday!!!! My mom has off on Friday so that will be the best possible time for her to come, especially if Venily has to spend the night somewhere. Oh my gosh, I want to cry just thinking about it!! I really just want everything to go smoothly for her. But she LOVES my mom and my mom is SOOOOO great with her (she already has a million things planned out for them to do together!), so I don't think it will be a problem, but she has never left me for that long, so you just never know.... My mom was REALLY sick with a cold on Monday when I talked to her so I am HOPING and PRAYING she is better by the time Haven comes!!!!!! My mom also took off work for the 22, 23, and 24th. So if Haven doesn't come on Thursday or Friday I have to hold her in there until Monday or Tuesday and that will be NO fun!!!

A woman who also takes her daughter to storytime and library classes was due around the same time as me and had her baby on Saturday! When her husband told me yesterday I was INSANELY jealous, lol!

Jason asked me if I was scared that giving birth was going to hurt this time because it was so easy the last time around. Thanks hunny! I don't want to dwell on that! I am actually pretty confident it will be just as easy, if not a bit easier (especially since I know what to expect). I'm more worried about timing than anything else!



At 39 weeks...
* I'm at 145 lbs (+25 lbs total gain)
* I'm soooo done being pregnant! I think I have it a lot easier than most women, but it hurts to do anything! My back KILLS and my legs and hips are just as bad. And sleeping is soooo hard when you can't get comfortable, have to pee every 5 minutes and eat every couple of hours. Plus when I do wake up I think about soooo much stuff and can't get back to sleep anyway!
* I think she has dropped a bit, b/c her hiccups are like right there. Guess we will see what the doctor says tomorrow!
* I wish I owned a girdle! haha! I am CONSTANTLY pushing various limbs back inside my stomach. She is so nuts!!! It totally looks like some alien creature is trying to come out of me. Maybe that is why I've been getting so many stares lately... like people will literally stare me down when I walk past, it's so creepy! But I've been getting a ton of complements too, so that makes me feel a little better! :)

Things to do today:
* Pack up Venily's bag for wherever she is going... I don't know why I keep putting this off, I think it just makes me really nervous for her. I almost started crying when I thought about it today!
* Move around some furniture! I decided I want Haven's changing table in our bedroom and our table in Venily's room. (I did the SAME thing the day before I went into labor with Venily, lol, and I didn't plan it that way this time!)
* Put my bags in our van (just in case!). :)


Doctor Appt update tomorrow and hopefully then an "I'm off to the hospital" post! And then birth story! :)

I so can't wait to see this gorgeous little girl's face!!! And Venily's face when she sees her for the first time!!!!!

Venily is 23 months!!

I hope to have a better update next month when Venily turns TWO!!! I can't wait!! Venily's grandma is making her a blue princess castle cake for her party and she is VERY excited!! I tried to get invitations for her the other day but couldn't find any I liked. She is also very excited to finally be able to pick out her fishies- we go to pet stores all the time and she tells me which kinds she wants to have! :)

Miscellaneous things about Venily for the last month:

* She is VERY into knowing what everyone's last names are! LOL! I don't know why, she just loves to use people's full names... She knows the last names of all of her cousins and a lot of other people in her family!

* Her current favorite song is "Use Somebody" by Kings of Leon. Though she also still loves all of her past favorites. And I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE when we are listening to the radio and a song comes on and she says "I LOVE this song!". haha

* She is OBSESSED with peeling the papers off of crayons and/or the stickers off of anything! She will sit there and do it for 45 minutes! I give her a bowl to put the papers in though, so they don't get all over the place, so I don't mind!

* She also still bites her nails and it has gotten WORSE!! She bites them (including her toe nails!!) to the point of bleeding! It drives me soooo crazy! Now she will hide under the blankets and do it and then come tell me that she did it. I am going to ask her doctor about this at her 2 year check up... speaking of which, I need to make it (but maybe I will just wait until Haven is here so I can schedule them both at the same time)! I've noticed that she does it when she's tired and when she's bored...

* She has gotten SOOOO much better with being shy around people. She still definitely is, but I think she is starting to warm up a LOT more quickly!! We seem to be making progress every month!

* She CAN'T wait to be a big sister!!! It's the cutest thing! She talks about Haven all the time, asks when she's coming, and gets so excited when I go to my doctor appointments. Anytime I watch a baby show on t.v. she get SUPER excited when the baby comes out! She says "MOMMY!! Baby got pushed out!!! YAY!!!! BABY GOT PUSHED OUT!!!" and she'll clap and has the biggest smile on her face! :)

* She goes to bed every night with Big Baby, Little Baby, and her 2 butterfly blankets and she needs to be all tucked in! :)

* She is picking up on so many of our phrases and mannerisms and it is HILARIOUS to see her do something or say something that I didn't really realize that I do a lot. LOL! Like cross my arms when I brush my teeth. Daddy has also taught her some 'not so nice' phrases like "What's with this guy?", lol, and he taught her to say "get a room" to the neighbor girl across the street who is always making out with her boyfriend in the driveway! Lovely!

* She is starting to get really good with scissors! I decided to buy her some while all the school stuff was on sale and she likes to "cut" coupons with me when I am cutting them out! She is getting the right hand positioning down and LOVES to make a million cuts and gets excited when pieces start dropping to the ground!

* She pretends for EVERYTHING!! I love it! She is really creative too! In a 10 minute span of time she will pretend that a crayon is a toad and she will tell me to "pet the toad GENTLY" (lol), she'll put it in a cup and pretend it's a straw and that's she's drinking milk, then it will be scissors and she pretends to cut my hair with it, and then it will be chapstick and she wants to put it on me, lol, etc., etc. etc.!

* The other day she was looking out our sliding glass door to our porch where her picnic table is and there was a beetle on it. She got soooo excited and was saying "GOOD MORNING BEETLE!!! GOOD MORNING!!! What are you doing beetle?"..... "OHHHHH! Eating the macaroni and cheese? (huge smile as she looks over at me and points back at the beetle). Mommy, EATING the macoroni and cheese!!!!!" LOL, she had had macoroni and cheese out there the day before. It was soooo cute!


Also Venily asked "Why?" today!!!! AHHHHH!!!! LOL! Jason and I were cracking up. Jason told her not to touch something and she said "Why?". I was stunned, she'd never asked that before! Then a little later she asked "why?" for something else as well. :)

YES!!!!

I got so much accomplished today and think I'm almost completely ready to have Haven now!!!! :) I just want to wait until Wednesday after Venily's ABC, Music and Me class because it's just starting back up now and Venily asks me ALL the time if she can go, so I'd feel really bad if she missed it! :)

***I am delighted to say that I am currently 100% caught up on printing out my pictures!!!!!!!! This was something that was weighing quite heavily on me and I'm soooo glad it's finally done!!

Last month I wanted to get a start on printing out pics so I printed 650 pics for $30.

The last couple of days I printed 2,690 pics for FREE!!!! :) And they all come right to my mailbox! Gotta love deals like that! I even printed out all the pictures I need to finish up Venily's baby book!!!

I also cleaned out all of my SD cards!!!!

Now I can take a million pics of my newest princess and not get all stressed out about how many I'm taking, lol!! Though I think from now on I am going to be A LOT more aware of the pictures that I'm keeping! (P.S. I have no idea what I'm going to do with 3,340 pictures! haha)

***I also COMPLETELY cleaned out my van today!! Yesterday Jason took out one of the bucket seats, moved Venily's carseat to the back and installed Haven's carseat in the other bucket seat (which by the way works out splendidly!). So today I vacuumed out the whole thing, put all of the rugs through the washer and dryer and cleaned up all of the hard rug things! I also washed the windows and wiped down everything inside!!!

***Also, I vaccummed the whole house, swept the floors, went through some drawers, and got all of the laundry and dishes done!! And wiped down everything and have about half of my windows cleaned (though some there really is no reason to clean, b/c they are literally dirty again within an hour, but I clean them anyways!). I am running out of things to clean and it feels GREAT!!!!



Tomorrow I'm going to get some invitations for Venily's birthday party and start trying to work on that! Venily is 23 months today!! I will try to finish up my 23 month update and get it up tomorrow!

After walking around the zoo yesterday and cleaning like crazy all day today, I am definitely feeling it! My hips are splitting in half, my legs have shooting pain with every step, and I'm having TONS of BH contractions! ;)

P.S. 10 DAYS LEFT UNTIL MY DUE DATE!!!!

Stupid Verizon Girl!!

So my phone has been acting weird. Not charging right and freezing up and stuff so that I can't use it! (DEFINITELY not the time for that!). So I stopped in at the Verizon store after my doctor appointment yesterday. Jason went there earlier in the day and told them what the problem was and since it's still under warranty, they were giving me a new phone. Well, I had to STAND there for 40 fricken minutes waiting to be helped even though there were 4 people working and only 2 people being helped at the time. They kept saying "someone will be with you in just a minute".

When I do get helped it's by a girl who is OBVIOUSLY very sick. Like sneezing and coughing all over the place sick! Uhhh- just stay HOME!!! And to make matters worse she was wiping her nose with her hand as she's programming my new phone. I couldn't even believe it! Did she not take even a single health class in school? I was looking around her desk for hand sanitizer or something and almost took some out of my purse to give her, but I just tried to wait as patiently as I could! As soon as I got in my van with my new phone I took out one of Venily's wipes and wiped the whole thing down and put hand sanitizer all over my hands, hoping that would be enough. But.... NOPE! I woke up at 1:30 this morning with a HORRIBLE sore throat that is still really bad right now! Like I don't have enough going on! When I told Jason he was really mad and said he was going to go in there and complain!

So I have another reason why Haven has to stay in there for another week! I need to be 100% better before she comes and I need to make sure my house is 100% germ free again!!!

Doctor Appointment- 38w, 1d

Well, my appointment was a little disappointing! Everything is still going well and for that I am EXTREMELY grateful, but he said that "she is still a little high and my cervix is softening". Which is funny b/c I follow a girl online who is due around the same time as me just had the exact same thing happen to her. One week they say the baby is really low and the next she's a "little high". They can move, but usually stay low when they are low. Uhhh! And he said that he thinks I'll have her pretty close to my due date, but probably a couple of days before! Not really what I wanted to hear, but not the worst thing! I'm still not dilated, but he said again that once I do start to dilate, I'll probably go really fast. At the end of my visit he said "I'll see you in a week, but if I see you sooner, it's all the better!". One more appointment won't kill me, but I ABSOLUTELY don't want 2 more!

I wish I could walk more and get things moving along, but I can't, it ends up being WAY too painful. I'm still paying for the couple mile bike ride I went on a week and a half ago and anytime I go grocery shopping or do too much cleaning (which is pretty much daily)!

38 WEEKS!!!

Okay writing that makes me want to hyperventilate a little bit, lol! WOW, I can't believe I'm 38 weeks already!! Someone could tell me I was 18 weeks and I'd believe them, b/c this seems to have gone WAY too fast!!

38 week pics (will we have 39 week pics?! we'll see...)



At 38 weeks...
*I'm at 144lbs (+24lbs total gain)
*Still having a tremendous amount of back pain. Lower, middle, and upper!! A heating pad works pretty well, but it's really hard for me to lay flat on my back so I have to lay up against things and when it's warm out at all I hate using it!
*I feel like I need at least 1 more week!! I have some stuff I want to finish up around here, lol! Though I do think that today would be a cool bday (09/09/09)! As long as she doesn't come on the 11th, I wouldn't want that!
*Haven is still really active (at times trying desperately to break out of my sides!) and even though she's down really far, she's still able to reach my ribs just fine! :)




This week I got Venily & Haven's "Big Sister"/"Little Sister" shirts finished! I am also working on getting all of my pictures printed (hoping to get them done by today or tomorrow!!). I've been shopping and trying to stock up on food and things, I'm going to head over to Woodman's today and get tons of vegetarian freezer stuff since no where else has the same selection!

Weekly doctor appointment again tomorrow!!!

2 Year Old Preschool!!

So, I've been thinking about this for a while now and have decided to start home-schooling Venily for 2 year old preschool!!!! :)

I thought "what the heck?". I have my elementary education degree, I worked as a day care teacher, and helped my mom out when she was a preschool teacher so I am more than qualified! I teach Venily things all the time now anyway, but it's nothing planned out. This would involve weekly lesson plans and more focused activities with new weekly or monthly themes! I am really excited (though I know I am going to have my hands very full in a couple of weeks, so I'm not entirely sure how's it going to work out, lol). I am going to try and do my best to still get Venily to her library story time and classes once Haven arrives, so I probably won't have anything scheduled for those days, but a couple of other times during the week we will! She's going to ABSOLUTELY love it!! I'M SO EXCITED!!! :)

My tall girl!

Yes, those are pants, not capris, lol!

I haven't measured Venily in a while and have had her in dresses and shorts most of the summer. So, now that it's getting cooler she is starting to wear more pants again. Well, I noticed that most of the pants that fit her waist are COMPLETE high waters now, lol! Like ridiculously so... and I started to think about it and realized that she has been reaching the light switches without her stepstool as well, and I measured her! 35 inches!! (And 25 lbs).

I went through all of her 12m (and a lot of her 18m) pants today and boxed them up for Haven! And I took out all of her long 18m & 24m & 2T pants and put them in her closet. Venily wears a 12m in waist, but definitely needs a 24m or 2T for length. It doesn't help that she doesn't wear a diaper so the bigger sizes fall off her even worse than if she did wear one. She doesn't have much for a butt or hips, but given her parents, there wasn't much hope for that!

I went to the store the other day and bought some adult skinny belts that were on sale and Jason and I turned them into belts for Venily by cutting off the ends and making new holes in them!! (I don't know why they don't sell toddler belts even though most pants have belt loops?!) They turned out so good, looks like I bought them for her!! :)

Jason and I both had high water pants all through school and I refuse to let my daughter!! No matter what it takes! :)

Doctor Appt- 37 weeks, 1 day

Another great appointment! I had Venily with me this time and she was just PERFECT!!!! She thought it was the coolest thing in the world that I got to pee in a cup, lol, and then while I was in the doctor's office she sat in a chair the whole time and read a magazine! HAHA! Everything is still looking great though!!! My Strep B Test came back negative. And my internal exam still shows that my cervix is getting soft and her head is nice and low. No dilation still, but that's not really a good indicator of labor anyway and I didn't dilate at all before having Venily. The doctor did predict though that I will have this baby 5-6 days before my due date!!!!! That is nice to hear! :) So if all goes according to plan, she should be here in about 2 weeks!!!!!

Oh, and I bought a digital timer today to time contractions, YAY!! :)

I swear, these pregnancies have been soooo similar it's scary... here is what I wrote at 37weeks, 1 day pregnant with Venily...

...It's getting harder and harder to sleep and/or walk b/c my back really hurts and it feels like my hips are splitting in half! Plus now I'm getting bad leg cramps again, so I'm back to stretching for an hour each night and I'm hoping that will help. I'm really hoping that the doctor will tell me on Monday that she is really close to being born! I had such bad contractions the other night that I dreamt that I was in labor and had to go to the hospital. But I'm sure she'll take her precious little time and not come early! It's so funny b/c Jason jumps at any thing I say and thinks I'm about to have the baby all the time! LOL! Last night I yelled for him to come see something and he thought my water broke!!

I woke up at like 3am with a leg cramp that lasted about 2 minutes. I was trying so hard not to scream, it hurt so badly- like crazy amounts of pain (WAY worse than giving birth!) and I had tears streaming down my face!! My leg is so sore today now! :( So I am back to stretching! Hoping yoga will help out tomorrow- I felt sooo much better after going last week!

37 WEEKS!!! FULL-TERM!!!

YES!!! And we are HAVING ANOTHER BABY THIS MONTH!!!!!!!! Like any time now...

And for the record, I am ready to be DONE being pregnant, even though I love it! My back and hips hurt very badly and I have so much trouble sleeping at night! And the suspense of when and where I am going to go into labor is killing me! I dream about it all the time now! Will I be home? Will it be the middle of the night? Who is going to be able to watch Venily? What if I can't make it to the hospital?! What if we aren't home when I go into labor and have to go straight to the hospital w/out getting my bags (I have actually made a list of where all of the things I don't have packed up are located in case of just such an event so someone else can come to my house and bring me all my stuff, lol, yeah...!)? What if I have to drive myself to the hospital... and I have Venily with me... and Kenosha traffic is as bad as it has been lately? Haha, it goes on and on!!!

The contractions last night lasted for a couple of hours, but died down eventually. They were coming at about 7 minutes apart for a while... it made me realize that I still need a couple more weeks, haha! Jason wasn't very happy when I told him about it this morning! :)
I still am kind of hoping that I have her on the 13th (which happens to be in 10 days!). It's early, but not too early and Jason's birth date is the 12th, mine is the 14th, and Venily's is the 13th. I don't want Haven to feel left out, lol, or she could be born on the 15th!

Jacki took my pregnancy pictures over the weekend and did an AMAZING job!! I can't wait for birth and newborn pics!!!!

And here are my 37 week pics as well...



At 37 weeks...
* I'm at 143 lbs (+ 23lbs total gain- that's how much I gained in total w/ Venily, but I'm happy- I wanted to gain a couple of extra pounds this time since I had trouble keeping weight on while breastfeeding last time!)
* Like I said, in almost constant pain! And when I walk now, my legs frequently go completely numb!


I got my car seat cleaned and re-put back together (I forgot what a pain it is when you take it apart!). Now I just need to put it in our van in the next couple of days so we are all ready to go! Jason got our dryer hooked up over the weekend (after much stress with that) and it is WONDERFUL!!! I am running out of things that HAVE to be done before Haven is here and am just trying to get as many of the things I'd LIKE to have done out of the way! I am at the point now where I kind of don't believe this is real and actually going to happen!!! But I'm very excited and just hoping everything goes well!!!!

Doctor appointment again tomorrow!!!!! My fingers are crossed that we are making some progress!!

Can't sleep!!

I've been up for a while with some pretty strong contractions!! I didn't want to wake Jason up because he would just have me rush to the hospital. He keeps telling me that he doesn't care if we end up there 10 times for false labor, as long as we make it there in time for the real labor! :) I, on the other hand, DO care! I don't think I'm in labor though, my body is just getting ready for the real thing.... but I will stay up a bit longer just in case! ;) I'm really wishing I would have bought that digital kitchen timer at the store, I had one to time Venily's contractions and I loved it! Maybe the next time I go to the store... or my phone probably has one on there... I'm tired! I don't want any middle of the night babies!

I'm 37 weeks today!!!! Will update more later... I'm still having contractions, but I think I'm going to go eat something and see if I can't fall back to sleep! I'm too tired to have any babies right now!