Hospital Prep

Went to my doctor appointment at thirty-six weeks and five days - wow, how time has flown by. We got some unexpected news: the doctor said that I'm three centimeters dilated and seventy percent effaced!

That means Dexter could arrive at any time!
I'm so excited! I am so not ready yet! I was thinking I had a few weeks left but it sounds like Dexter is going to meet us earlier than the due date! Oh my goodness, what a kick in the butt to get things ready!

I guess first thing is to put together a hospital bag. I need to wash some baby clothes so they smell more like mom & dad. What to pack? I found a couple of super helpful lists online from Parents.com & a blog: Life With My Littles (along with some other helpful ideas to prep for baby!) I also got a list from my doctor. Here's my list of what I decided to bring:

Basics:

• Picture ID
• Insurance Card
• Advanced Directive
• Birth Plan
• Vitamin list (& vitamins) 
• Call list
• Chargers (phone, nook)

For baby:

• Diapers & wipes
• Car seat & blanket
• Bottomless gowns
• Burp rags
• Receiving blankets (though the hospital may have some too)
• Baby beanies
• A picture out fit
• Socks

For mom:

• Toiletries: toothbrush, hair brush, deodorant, hair ties, lip balm, emery board 
• Sweatshirt
• Slippers / socks
• Gifts / thank yous for doctors & nurses
• Entertainment devices (nook)
• Snacks & gum
• Nursing bra / shirt / tank top
• Nursing pillow
• Nursing pads?
• Pump
• Extra fabric bag for things acquired at the hospital (gifts / hand outs)
• Flip flops
• Baby's memory book
• A pillow from home
• "Baby folder" for the papers from the hospital
• A laundry bag
• Music device (with music!)

For dad:

• Toiletries: toothbrush, hair brush, deodorant 
• Snacks & gum
• A couple of changes of clothes

Oh, next I should really write out that birth plan so it can be packed and on hand! I got a birth plan check list from WIC & I found this blog, Earth Mama, that has a whole bunch of points to check and then a pdf file can be downloaded for free! Just Mommies also has a similar birth plan creator that makes it easy to simply select what you want & print it out.

Find a pediatrician.... WIC sent me a letter saying that they had picked out a doctor for us. I don't really like that. I want a say in where I take my child. My doctors gave me a list of pediatricians that work with the hospital I'm going to deliver my son at. I have to make some calls, but I hope to be switching to one of their offices.

I still need to pick up the things Dexter still needs! Oh my gosh! I still need some things: bed covers, nursing gear, a baby sling, diaper gear... I'm sure I'm forgetting other things too...

What about birth announcements? Should I pick those out now?

What the hell am I supposed to expect for the labor process? I've never done this before! This is all brand spankin new to me! I've been avoiding really looking into it because I'm scared that it's 'the most painful pain that I'll ever be in, in my whole life.' I want to see and read more birth experiences first, before I dive into it my self! Wait, Dexter, I'm not ready yet!

Calm down. Breath. Be excited! :)
We're going to get to meet little Dexter soon & everything is going to be great!

Bellie Pics :)

Week 3 (when I found out)

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

week 7

Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 9
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 12
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 14

Week 15

Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 16
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 17
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 18
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 19
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 20
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 21
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 22
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 23
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 24
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 25
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 26
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 27
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 30
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 33
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 34
Photo by Timothy Capp

Week 36
Photo by Timothy Capp

Hospital Visit!!!

(Perhaps a TMI post...)

Happy new year Dexter!

This is the year that you're going to be born, we started the new year in a new trimester - the last - at twenty-eight weeks into pregnancy. Your dad and I are incredibly excited to meet you! Since you're not here yet... your dad & I wanted to bring the new year in with a bang! (Or six or seven bangs!) After all, when you get here we anticipate you taking most if not all of our time, energy, and willingness to do much of anything else but coo and awe over you while we take care of your adorable baby needs.

Come to find out: there is such a thing as too much banging.

We went to the hospital at midnight on the third day of the new year, after calling the doctor & asking for advice from other parents. I started bleeding. We got worried that the placenta had moved to the wrong place, that the mucous plug had started coming out, or perhaps labor was starting early! When I called the doctor the bleeding seemed to be stopping. She said to just rest and keep an eye on it, but to go to the hospital if it started up again. So midnight hospital adventure it was!

Your dad and I had been to the doctor's office a dozen times by now and the hospital shared a parking lot, but we had never gone into the hospital before now. It was so late most of the entrances were closed, we had to walk all the way around the building to find an open door. We went up to the fifth floor - the labor and delivery area. We had to fill out paperwork before we could see anyone, then the nurse brought us back to an exam room. Another nurse came in and asked all the questions that were on the paperwork and when the emergency doctor came in she went over them again! The are very through I suppose.

The nurse strapped a heart monitor to my belly to monitor your heart rate and another piece of equipment to catch any contractions I might be having. We got to listen to your heart beat away and we could hear all your wiggles and squirms while we waited for the doctor. When the doctor came in she told us she ordered an ultra sound, some blood work, and some other testing to make sure everything was okay.

A nurse came in with a wheelchair and pushed me to the ultra sound room - first time I was pushed around in a wheel chair at a hospital!  (And because it was so late or early in the morning, hardly anyone was in the hospital and half of the lights were turned off. It made me feel like your dad and I were just dropped into a zombie movie!) The ultra sound technician put warm goopie stuff all over my belly: we got to see you and how much you had grown since the last ultra sound (that we thought was going to be our last.) She took some measurements, we got to see your bones, your newly added chubbiness, and at one point your face! You were breech - your head in my ribs - when we peeked in on you. She said that everything looked okay, the placenta was in the right spot, there was a good amount of amniotic fluid, and you have plenty of time to turn around before labor.

Back up in the exam room a nurse came in to draw my blood and the doctor came in to look at my cervix - that's always uncomfortable. She came to the conclusion that everything was fine though! When she looked at my cervix she had your dad look too.  She pointed out where you would come out and what was causing the bleeding. Apparently I have a vascular cervix and we had broken a vein which caused it to look like I was starting my period. She wanted us to wait for the blood & other tests to come back just to make sure everything else was okay, which everything was, and then we were free to go!

Doctors orders: no more banging till the next doctor visit - four days away - so that my body would have time to heal.

25 Weeks

Baby and I have reached week 25!

Last night (Dec. 11th) was the first night that he's been so strong and harsh with his movements to wake me up... I thought he was going to crawl right out of me! He kept me up for about an hour in amazement of how much he was moving around.  Though I was so tiered today because of it. I took a three hour nap and I'm thinking of going to bed early too.

Not only is baby Dexter getting stronger, he is now about thirteen and a half inches long, and weights about one and a half pounds. He is also getting more baby fat and practicing breathing, swallowing, crying, out-of-the-womb activities.

One of the mom's in one of my mom's groups had an emergency c-section this week, her and baby are doing good.  It's amazing that we've made it to viability and to see what my boy looks like at this point.

I've been so wrapped up in baby and the holidays this month.  Though, thinking of the future I've tried to start putting together a baby shower. Everyone is welcome to join in the fun! I'm working on a trivia game and some other games we can play over the internet together.  I won't have a chance to really think about it or put it together completely until after the holidays.

Tomorrow there are some local festivities going on - Snow on Tarpon Ave. We're looking forward to checking it out. Though I have a feeling that it would be so much more fun with our son on the out side of me, being as most of these things are geared toward kids. Still, it will be a lot of fun being around all the holiday joy!

South Carolina

Dear Baby,

We're at week 24!!! This pregnancy with you has been going by so fast looking back and thinking I was so excited to reach the half way mark at 20 weeks. It's also been so slow at times with the anticipation of meeting you boiling up and causing butterflies in my tummy. I suppose it's like we've climbed a mountain to the half way point and now that we've reached the summit going down is going to go by so much faster!

The last couple of weeks have really flown by! We went to the Dr.'s for a check-up, I got to hear your heart beat loud & strong and we're both healthy, right where we should be. Then you had your first taste of Thanksgiving. Your first holidays in existence is in my womb, your dad and I are really looking forward to spending the holidays with you! You're going to bring so much more joy and excitement to events than we can experience now as 'boring' adults. We went to your grandparent's place and visited with your great grandparents too. Just a small gathering with your father's side of the family, it was fun!

Photo by Timothy Capp

The day after Thanksgiving we headed to South Carolina to document your daddy's high school friend proposing!  This has been your second road trip up the east coast in my womb, the first being a North Carolina trip for a wedding your daddy photographed.  This trip was short and only lasted a couple of days - but it was so much fun!  We got to experience new restaurants. (Cookout is an awesome inexpensive fast food place - we got two burgers, two sides and a shake for just twelve dollars & it tasted great!) We went to a restaurant we found last time we were up here & just had to get some of their signature berry biscuits (Bojangles.)

Photo by Timothy Capp

We got to the meeting place where the proposal was planed to occur a bit early so we had time to look around and play, since it was at the beach! Your dad pointed out that this was my first time seeing the Atlantic Ocean. I collected some shells of course and your dad got some fun pictures.  We were right outside the hotel that your dad's friend was staying in with his sweetheart.  It was a big beautiful beach themed hotel, there were two weddings there that day as well. The proposal was supposed to take place under the pier, but they got really nervous and he ended up proposing on the balcony. We convinced them to get some really sweet photos before we headed out though.

Photo by Timothy Capp

The day after we got back from South Carolina your dad had a meeting to sell a camera and close to where we were meeting there was a build-a-bear shop! Since we've decided on your first name, we stopped in to make you a bear and leave a message for you - it was your dad's idea.  It was so hard deciding which bear to get you... there was a cute monkey, an alligator that is special for Florida shops only, there were different colored bears, and a puppy that we liked.  We wanted to get you the perfect one that would last you a while.  After we chose the perfect one we left you a message that we put in it's paw & stuffed the bear. We put two hearts in it, one filled with love from dad and one filled with love from mom - we sealed the love in with a kiss before we placed them in your bear.

Photo by Timothy Capp

We are so excited to meet you!  I feel you move more often now. Sometimes it's just small movements and other times it's big kicks!  I think I watched you hiccup today, you were making my whole belly jump in little rhythmic jumps! I've seen you kick and push my belly skin too. I was reading that your skin is growing faster than your fat cells at this point. So you're a wrinkly skinny little one right now about the size of a standard letter, but you weigh just over one and a half pounds by now. You may also have some hair growing on your tiny little head, though it doesn't have any color yet.

You're sucking up all my energy too.  I've been so sleepy and achy.  I took a nap for the first time since your first trimester in my womb yesterday. You are growing so much that my belly is cramping and stretching to make room for your last four months in there. Four months!  I'm so excited to meet you (and yet so scared of what I will go through to do so.)

I'm happy we've decided on a name for you! Now instead of calling you baby when I talk to you at various points of the day, I can call you by your name: Dexter.  We just have to figure out your middle name now...

Week - 22 - Twenty-two

Oh my gosh. I feel big. None of my regular clothes fit me any more.  I was down to one dress and my boobs out grew it. So today I dragged hubby out to get me a new wardrobe. We found a great deal at a consignment shop: all the clothes were sixty percent off and they were all marked under five dollars to start with!  I got some comfortable pants and cute tops. The store was packed with toys and baby gear, which we still don't have any of.  I wanted to get a lot of it.  Baby clothes are so cute!!! We also found a boa and sparkly hat for our photo booth. The lady took sixty percent off the whole stack! Everything rang up for about sixty dollars after the sale was applied I paid twenty-five. Oh yeah!

Then we headed over to a thrift store next door and spent just over twenty dollars there too. I found some holiday cards for this year, I got some stickers and a much needed cheese grater. I found a couple of formal dresses - the main reason for our adventure. I also got a large teddy bear for my boy ... and to use with newborn shoots. Hubby found a ten dollar super Nintendo. It came in a flavored rum box with a couple of games, the controllers, instruction books for the games and three others, a couple of "heavy duty" timers, an instruction manual for a cassette recorder, and a few other random things. He was very excited to find it. I guess he never owned the system before.

I was very pleased with our finds today!

Baby isn't growing in any interesting ways now.  Just bulking up for when the time comes to be apart of this world out side of the womb. He's getting stronger too.  I'm feeling kicks more often and stronger. According to babycenter.com his iris' have yet to develop pigment - that's interesting.  He is about eleven inches long and weighs almost a pound.  He's about the size of a spaghetti squash! (Perfect for the holidays!)

21 Weeks

My pregnancy is old enough to drink! Laugh out loud, yes, I'm just joking!

Baby is about the size of a carrot this week, about ten and a half inches from head to toe.  He can taste the amniotic fluid around him and is practicing swallowing and other out-of-the-womb necessities. The amniotic fluid is flavored by the food I'm eating (according to babycenter.com) so I should start eating things that I want him to like: carrots, salad, healthy things!

My belly feels tighter, I'm having cramp like pains in my lower abdomen and up my sides.

I'm so sleepy, I slept for almost fourteen hours last night - minus the tossing and turning and being woken up by hubby coming to bed - when I woke up it felt like I got a really crappy nap in, not a full night's rest.

At the same time, I have little bursts of energy! I can clean and play with hubby, I feel so accomplished and I get so much done. ... Until the burst is gone.

I still get dizzy from time to time.  After I've been standing for a few hours especially.  I've also noticed that my body is not circulating blood as efficiently as it's been in the past.

Also, I'm bitchy. Not even grumpy just flat out bitchy - I have a problem with everything and it's becoming harder to please me. The last wedding we were working I kept checking in with hubby to ask: "Is it okay to be mad about this, or am I over reacting?"

It's awesome being able to feel our little man moving around in there.  A sign that I'm not just getting fat, but that I actually truly do have a little someone in there.

Names are "fun" to come up with. Actually it's the middle name we're having issues with. Hubby loves a name I'm not to keen on, and I don't like a whole lot of boy's names. So we weed out the ones hubby doesn't like from the ones I'm okay with and our list is empty.

We don't have anything ready for baby when he gets here!  No car seat, no crib or bassinet, no bouncer, no diapers, no clothes, no toys, nothing! Well, we have a package of baby wipes... that's it!  I'm not even sure where we're going to put the stuff once we start collecting it!? I went though a little bit of nesting and cleaned most of our condo... but then daddy got all his toys out, and daddy hasn't learned to put things away yet.  So the place is... trashed. The mess could also be due to the fact that we've had a crazy busy week and haven't been home with the energy to do anything for a while.  Three weddings in eight days - the weather has gotten cooler and wedding season has picked up!

Kick ... kick!

First real "that's-my-baby" kick happened on November 6th, in Orlando, Florida, at 20 weeks 4 days pregnant, while a bride was getting her make-up all done up and Daddy was working.

I stole the spot light for a bit while I teared up and all six girls in the room swooned over the moment with me. A few camera phone shots were taken and of course hubby took a few as well.

The next day the best-daddy-to-be-ever laid his head on my belly and got about six kicks to the face!  Our little man is really moving around now, begging for more room.