35 weeks and a I'm a Nesting Fool!

The above picture was taken at 33.5 wks. Yes, I'm still camping and hiking throughout my pregnancy!

It's hard to believe that in just 5 short weeks I'll be 40 weeks and baby Campbell will be making his or her entrance! After my wonderful baby shower, I finally feel ready to have a baby in the house, and the spare bedroom is beginning to look like it belongs to a baby rather than a storage unit!

As I was working on putting things together in the nursery, Luna and Mrs. Weasley were going haywire. Mrs. Weasley seems to think the crib is for her and Luna has taken command at the rocking chair! They're gonna get a rude awakening when they discover it's for someone else!

Please note the ginormous amplifier in the corner of our baby's room. Rob plans on raising this baby as a hard core rocker! Distortion will be used as a lullaby... Just kidding! We actually plan on getting rid of it as soon as possible. There is no where else to put it, so for now, I'm just utilizing the space above it.

The filing cabinet is to inspire our baby to be organized and smart, even at a very young age! Ok- there really is no other place for this item as well. I'm going to cover it up with some fabric, haha.

At this point in my pregnancy, I am ready for the baby to come. Pregnancy is getting a bit old. However, I am slightly terrified of labor and the hospital. Our Lamaze classes are helping with that fear, but I'm still very apprehensive. I'm hoping this labor will be quick and uneventful, but I'm trying to be prepared if it's not. I started packing my hospital bag (I hope putting one item in the bag counts as starting to pack!), which makes things very very real.

My nesting urges have kicked in full force. The house must be ready. The nursery must be cute. Meals must be frozen. The car seat has to be installed. More cooking needs to be tackled. The floors need to be swept and swept again! The walls need to washed and the windows shined! I wear myself out just writing my to-do lists these days, haha.

So far, I've gained 18-20lbs this pregnancy. It seems like it should be 40 the way I feel though! Some days, all I want to do is eat, eat and eat. I even get up in the middle of the night to eat! The image of a severely pregnant woman standing in her PJs next to an open fridge has become reality. Breastfeeding should be an adventure- I'll still technically be eating for two! :-/

32 Weeks

On Wednesday I'll be 32 weeks. It's so hard to believe our baby will be here in just 2 more months! We're so excited, yet at the same time feel so unprepared! Although we got the crib and changing table, as well as a few pieces of clothing from Once Upon a Child (love that place), we're nowhere near prepared! Good thing the baby shower is just a few more weeks away! I can't wait to get started on the nursery, put bedding on the crib and set up all the baby things.

We finally sold our extra box spring on Craigslist, so there's actually room to move in the baby's room now. The only other big items taking up space is the elliptical trainer and Rob's gigantic amplifier. Oh, and the filing cabinent. I'm thinking of just getting some fabric to cover up the amp and the filing cabinent, lol. Everything must serve double duty when you live in a small space!

This weekend, Rob and I are going camping, something we love to do. Since we haven't taken any camping trips since October, we're both really excited. Let's just hope the weather holds up! We plan on camping in Red River Gorge and doing some light hiking while there. We're both looking forward to sharing our love for the outdoors with this baby.

My prenatal appointments come every 2 weeks now instead of every month. It's getting harder to remember them all! I feel like I am there every week. Tonight, Rob and I start Lamaze classes, which are every Monday for the next 5 weeks... should be interesting! Hee, Hee, Wooo.... haha.

I've definitely been feeling more pregnant than ever at this point. I can't eat much at once since my stomach is so squashed and breathing is difficult at times. Sleeping is getting tricky- some nights I sleep forever, some I can't sleep at all. I never seem to have enough water in my cup either! Braxton-Hicks contractions come every now and then, mostly when I am a little dehydrated, which is such a weird feeling. They aren't painful but can be uncomfortable. My back is also taking it's toll on my expanding belly, which is probably the worst part since when it hurts I can't seem to escape the pain no matter if I am laying down, sitting or standing. But the good news is I only have 2 months left! If I can survive morning sickness for 3 months, then I think I can survive a little back pain here and there for a few more weeks. :-)

29 weeks

Here I am at 29 weeks preggo! My feet are hurting more at the end of the day, and I have moments of nonstop hunger!

New City, New Doctor, New Trimester!

It's been nearly a month since I updated due to all the business associated with moving to a new town. We're finally settled into our new apartment, and we love it here! I really like Louisville much better than Cincy- the people are noticeably friendlier, the roads are more maintained, the countryside is prettier... I could go on and on! :-)

Even though we're all settled now, it was not an easy move. The day we moved into our apartment, we discovered bedbugs. If any of you have ever had an experience with bedbugs, you know this is very, very bad (My dorm at CCU had bedbugs my first year. It was, to say the least, awful). Thankfully, the bugs were concentrated in a room we didn't really unload in, and we were only there for 4 hours. But at 10:30 at night after a long day of moving, the last thing you want to hear is that you have to move again. Thank goodness we didn't unpack...

So, at 2am we found ourselves temporarily homeless. We checked into the Holiday Inn, sneaking our kitties in later through the back door. You know the situation is desperate when you're sitting in your hotel room with your cats and a rental truck with every single item you own is outside in the parking lot!

The next day, we were able to find another apartment (which is actually much nicer), and spoke with the previous apartment's manager to get our deposit and rent back as well as the hotel reimbursement. So it all worked out, and we didn't take any bedbugs with us. At time however, it was not very funny! In fact, I pretty much started to hyperventilate when we first discovered the bugs. :-/

After we moved yet again, several days later, I had my first appointment with my new midwife. I love the new practice I am going to! They are much better at communicating with me than the Ft. Thomas one. My midwife, Beth Barry, is one of the only 3 midwives in the Louisville area who do hospital births (and she's technically in Indiana). I love that there is so much individual attention and that the hospital is small. It makes for a much more pleasant experience. She even gave me a birth plan to fill out as well as a huge bag of literature about pregnancy, labor and delivery! What a world of a difference!

We were also relieved to discover the actual cost of this baby. Although Rob and I have health insurance with maternity coverage, the maternity coverage is a joke. They pretty much only pay what you pay in premiums. Turns out, I am better off paying with cash. Since the practice as well as the hospital give substantial discounts for those who opt for self-pay, it makes much more sense to go this route. Plus, we won't have to mess with insurance! Our medical insurance will still cover things like emergencies and any complications that might arise, so no worries there.

I thought I'd go ahead and post the actual numbers for everyone to see. Because, believe it or not, these numbers are much harder to come by than you might think!

• Prenatal Care at Ft. Thomas: $610 (we pay $100 and insurance covers the rest)


• Prenatal Care in Louisville: $1701 ($1000 was due up front, the rest is due in installments before the last month; this includes the physician at delivery; special rate for self-pay only)


• Labor, Delivery and Hospital Stay: $2400 (2-day stay for a normal vaginal birth, does not include potential circumcision or any pain meds; special rate for self-pay only)


• Total Cost= $4201
  

That's quite a bit of money, but it's a heck of a lot less than I thought it would be. We were originally planning on having to shell out $8,000 after insurance. What a relief to know that this baby is not going to bust our budget! Now we can spend just a tad more on getting the nursery together... (which BTW, is still non-existent! Better get a move on that...)

Oh, and I am officially in my 3rd trimester now. How exciting and crazy all at the same time. I'll post a belly pic soon!

25 Weeks Along...

I'm 25 weeks! This is kind of weird since Josie Duggar (if you watch 19 kids and counting you'll know what I mean) was born at that age and survived. WEIRD. My baby is around 2 pounds now! (Note: the photo was taken at 24 weeks).

The kicking has been interesting. Sometimes, my baby just kicks and kicks and kicks, but other times he or she seems to be very quiet.

I've gained 10ish pounds so far, according to my last appointment.

And the sleep induced coma has returned. In the beginning of my pregnancy all I seemed to do was sleep. I would sleep for 12 hours night after night. This past week I've seen a bit of a comeback with that, and I've been snoozing for 10-11 hours at a time! I know it's normal, but it sure makes me feel unproductive!

The next few weeks will be busy as we pack up all the rest of our stuff and make the move to Louisville. I'm so excited! I get to be the one ordering everyone around instead of carrying boxes this time, :-)

I also seem to be doing a bit of early nesting. Every box that I've packed has been SUPER organized and ridiculously labeled. Everything has to be just so. I don't want anything going into our new place that we don't need! I'm probably driving Rob crazy with my control freak attitude about this packing, but I figure you can never be too prepared for a move!

And I have one confession to make: I hate materinity pants. No, I despise them. You might notice in my picture that I am not wearing them. hehe, my little secret- the Bella Band! It keeps my unbuttoned (and uh, unzipped) prepregnancy pants from falling down. I wore it a bit in the beginning of my pregnancy, but now that my belly has rounded out it's much easier to wear it again. Which makes me super happy since I don't feel like a frump anymore!

23 Weeks

Here I am at 23 weeks pregnant!

I have my monthly appointment on Tuesday, so we'll see how much weight I have gained then! I think it is somewhere around 8-10 pounds.

Baby is getting more active, and I regularly feel his little 'punches' every day.

Yesterday, I experienced some major pregnancy pain in my lower back. I felt immobilized the whole day! I made Rob give me three massages, but the only thing that seemed to help was going to bed. The third trimester will likely bring a host of other aches and pains, and it is only one month away now (:SHOCK:). When I told Rob this, he said, "Third trimester? Just hearing that word is so weird. How in the world did we get here so fast?!"

Our First Ultrasound!

We had our first Ultrasound a couple weeks ago. Look at the adorable little baby growing inside my belly!

We were amazed to see the baby moving in real time, the tech pointing out tiny dots and identifying them as organs. "Oh, there's the stomach, here are the arteries, look at those lungs!" It was so reassuring to see that the baby had all of its limbs and is progressing quite well. The tech measured him or her right at my due date and stated the baby weighs 14 oz! I loved seeing the fingers and little hands! And it was a good thing we didn't want to find out the gender, since baby had it's legs crossed the whole time!

Rob said the ultrasound is what made everything more real for him. Since I've been feeling the baby kick for a while, it helped him connect with the baby. And now that the baby's kicks are getting stronger, he can feel the little kicks and movements for himself too!

This next month will be full of activity for our family, since we are relocating to Louisville, KY which is 1.5 hours away. The store where Rob works is closing, so he has requested to be transferred to Louisville. We have quite a few friends in that city, and there are more churches and people in ministry to network with. It's a fresh start for our growing family, and we can't wait!

We have picked out another 2 bedroom apartment, and I am looking forward to getting started on the nursery! I would love to have a Mother Goose theme, and so far we have bought a stuffed bunny and two Mother Goose books to use as inspiration for planning.

Another thing I am excited about is the new laundry room. We will finally be able to do laundry in our own apartment! This is a huge deal for us, since we've been using the facilities in our building's basement for over 2 years. It will be so convinient to be able to wash clothes without trekking everything up and down flights of stairs each time. And it will be expecially helpful since I want to try out cloth diapering part-time, too.

With the move comes a transfer of prenatal care and a more defined plan for the birth. After much research, I have decided on a hospital in Jeffersonville, IN (right across the river from Louisville)- Clark Memorial Hospital. It's a much smaller hospital and has great reviews from mothers who wanted a natural, drug-free childbirth. I will hopefully have one of the only 3 midwives in the Louisville area deliver our baby! I think it's a great compromise with our initial desire to have a home-birth. Birthing in the hospital will be a much better fit for me, and I will still get the type of care I am looking for by going with Clark. The only good thing about having individual insurance is that you aren't restricted to a specific area, so having the baby in Indiana won't be a problem at all.

As of now, I am 22 weeks pregnant and only have 6 weeks left in my 2nd trimester. The baby is only 4 months away, and my belly will soon look like I've swallowed a watermelon whole! I better get a move on in picking out everything from cribs, to carseats to strollers! :-/