finally: a charlotte update.

okay - so there is a lot to update in regard to baby charlotte! i have been ordered to stay in bed this saturday morning {by my darling husband} while the boys run some man errands for me, so what better thing to do than watch college gameday and catch up on my much-behind blogging?! yay!

so. where to start?

first: the hospital visit.

last monday, i woke up and felt like i normally do at 8 months pregnant: tired, not rested and short of breath. i didn't think anything of it until i got brady up and basically had to lay down for another hour on the couch because everytime i got up i felt like i was going to pass out. the final straw for me was when i tried to gt up just to get some water and i started seeing those infamous blue spots and had to sit down on the ground with my back against the wall to 'catch my breath'.

i called the hubby at work and old him i felt like something was wrong. i think i told him: "this is not normal." so, he kept cool and told me to call dr. wells and then call him back. the nurse was really puzzled by what i told her. had i eaten breakfast? yes. was a laying on my left side when i laid down? yes. did it get better if i laid down? no. interesting. she talked to the doctor and two minutes later i was trying to figure out how to get myself to 'labor & delivery' at presby!

it was chaotic getting to the hospital. b. knew something was going on and starting throwing a fit all while i was trying to make sure i had snacks, juice, diapers & wipes along with getting him and myself dressed before my mom came to pick me up. i met jeff at the hospital and my mom took brady to the playground while we were figuring things out.

it was almost immediately apparent what was happening as soon as they hooked me up to the monitors. my pulse was jumping from 95-100 to the range of 130-140 and then back down. no, i wasn't doing anything physical. no, i wasn't stressed about anything. i really was just laying in a hospital bed all day long while they monitored me and i'd go through these 2-3 minute spells of feeling terrible and then it would relax for a few minutes and we'd go through the same thing again.

we stayed overnight. we saw the cardiologist three times. we went through a ton of tests. bottom line is that they think it's pregnancy induced. a combination of adrenaline spikes {caused by pregnancy hormones} and the pressure that baby c. puts on major arteries as she gets bigger. it basically feels like i've just run 5 miles when i've actually done nothing at all. now that i know what it is, it honestly makes me feel better. they gave me some medicine to help control the severity of the 'episodes'. they havne't gone away, they're still there, but not as severe and not as frequent. so that will just have to do until miss charlotte arrives.

which brings me to my next update:

we're officially schedule for a c-section on thursday, november 11th. 11/11. what a perfect day?! we're very excited, as the countdown has begun. less than two weeks!! woo-hoo!

also. we are SO closed to finishing the nursery. there are just a few final touches that we're waiting on and then it will be complete. it's coming together even better than i had imagined. how is it that pink is so 'sweet'??  if you've read my blog before, you know that i'm a huge fan of the 'big reveal' of before and after, so i just can't bring myself to show the whole room until it's done. but... that doesn't mean i can't show you a few of my favorite parts, right?

here we go - starting with a little craft project:













little miss c's bedding was definitely a labor of love. it took me forever to pick out the fabric and then i set to work on making it. it took several weeks of figuring out the best way to put it together, the best way to sew it, pressing, pinning, ruffling, putting it down for a few days and picking it back up all over again. i will say that all of the bedding cost around $80... including two pillows, a quilt and a table topper. that's cheaper than most anything you'll find, right?

one of my thirty things before thirty was learning how to sew. i told jeff that i think this means i can cross that off my list. don't you?









here's the official update:

how far along? 37 weeks, 3 days.
total weight gain/loss? +20 pounds... i gained 2 pounds each of these last two weeks. woo-hoo.
maternity clothes? ummm.... i'm sick of these now, can i get an amen? most shirts aren't long enough to cover my elephant-sized belly... PLUS the elastic in the pants will slide down ever so slowly so that i end up with a little bit of skin showing. yuck. sorry if i just offended someone, i am just not a fan of that. so i'm mostly in sweats now. unless i'm made to get out of the house in something 'decent'.
stretch marks? i can't believe this, but with less than two weeks to go, i can see ever-so-slight marks starting on my hips. this is exactly what happened last time. i gained 10 pounds the last two weeks and got stretch marks everywhere. ugh, ugh, ugh.
sleep? none. {did i mention i'm supposed to be sleeping now?}
best moment this week? officially being scheduled at the hospital! yippeee!!
movement? not slowing down at all in this department. she's definitely found the way to get her feet up under my ribs--- always on my left side. not.comfortable.
food cravings? the last two weeks have been rough around our house so i've been craving all comfort food - i.e. not-good-for-you-comfort-food.
what i miss: sleeping. shaving my legs in a normal manner. my back not hurting, being able to pick something up off the floor, not having to go to the potty every 5 minutes.... i could go on and on.
what i'm looking forward to: november 11th.
how are you feeling? after all of the update - do i really need to elaborate on this one? i have less than 2 weeks left... so obviously not the best.
comparisons to last pregnancy? everything is just harder this time. that's what the doc told me would happen at our first appointment, but it's really been playing itself out this last few weeks. i'm just ready. everything but the last month has gone by fast. oh - and i tested positive on the strep b test this time when i didn't have it last time.
milestones? we are through with the hubby being out of town for the duration of the pregnancy. for ME - that's a milestone! yay!

 

pumpking painting.

duck duck.... duck?

a few weeks ago, yes that's how far behind in blogging i am, our new friends brooke and olivia kate asked a few of us over to play. they live right by a great park with a pond and lots of ducks {and turtles, fish and probably other slimy things...} so we broke out the strollers and walked the few blocks to feed them.

brady was not sure at first, so he hung behind with me and his caprisun while he watched the girls get a hang of it.

by the time we were out of bread he was finally interested... of course that would be how it works, right?

thankfully, we were able to go again this past sunday and he new exactly what to do and we had a lot of fun.























i just realized through these pics that the girls truly outnumber the boy{s} in most of the circles we run in!!

catching up.

i just realized that i haven't posted in almost 2 weeks. i would start to feel guilty - but then i would remind myself that this blog is supposed to be fun... supposed to be my scrapbook, right? so who cares when i write?

well, i just wanted to check in so that everyone knows that no... baby charlotte has not made her arrival. in fact, i have a lot to update - just no energy to do it. i'd say no time, but that might be stretching the truth a bit. the time i do have, i usually spend attempting to nap or attempting to 'rest' - whatever that means at 8 1/2 months pregnant.

so - i'm trying to get everything updated - for my 'scrapbooking' sake, but i'm getting frustrated with photoshop and i'm ready to go to bed. so, i'll leave you with a group pic of our playdate to feed the ducks two or three weeks ago. i promise i have lots of pictures to gt on here. b's big boy room, miss c's bedding, a trip to the hospital, lots of craft projects, etc. etc. i'm trying to get everything off my camera {and my mind} before miss c. gets here.

new park.

last week when the weather was fabulous in the afternoons, b. and i headed to a 'new' park a few miles away off of main street. {i hit up starbucks first, of course!}

it was a great park... really big with a lot of different obstacle course-like stuff and tons of slides.
we will be going back really soon!

not me monday.

i got a perfect night sleep last night next to my husband who was not having the chills and i did not end up getting up every hour or so with my son who was not whining for seemingly no reason.

all three of us did not wake up this morning feverish and with runny noses and coughs. no, we certainly did not.

i did not have to drag my less than 100% self and my sicky little boy to my 35 week check up at 9 a.m. and i most certainly did not bribe my son with a milkshake if he was happy at the doctor - and it did not work. we did not have a screaming meltdown when we had to leave the doctor because b. wanted to 'hear the baby' some more... and i did not have to carry my 30+lb son out of the hospital and to the car while 8 months pregnant. nope. that would not happen to us.

after not getting the milkshake from sonic that i did not promise brady, he did not poke a whole in the cup and the milkshake did not get all over him, his car seat and my freshly washed car. i would sigh, but remember, this did not happen to us.

when we finally got home, i definitely did not turn the t.v. for the remainder of the morning until nap time - and i did not let brady dictate what show we watched and when. i did not put him down 15 minutes early and i really did not sleep for the whole 3 hour nap time. i really didn't. i promise.

i did not try to remedy the unproductive morning by attempting to the grocery store at 5 p.m. and while getting ready to leave, i did not use the remote start on my car which did not proceed to lock my sweet son in the car already buckled into his carseat. my phone, bag, keys, etc. were of course, not in the car locked in there with him. of course they weren't. i did not have to go knock on neighbors door, telling them what happened so that i could call the fire department. nope. not this mama. {did i mention that this has not happened to brady before?}

four firemen did not come, and they did not have their sirens & lights on, and they definitely did not park in front of my house for my whole neighborhood to see! it did not take them 30+minutes to open the car and i'm sure my dear husband was not flying down the tollway trying to get home to give us his keys.

after all of this did not happen, brady did not get invited to come inside the firetruck and honk their horns and turn the sirens on. he definitely wanted to - he wasn't scared at all. why would he be? he does not yell "firetruck" at the top of his lungs anytime he hears a siren of any kind.

the hubbs did not get home 10 minutes after the firemen left and i was not a hysteric mess that he had to calm down. i held it together extremely well. i did not try to go to the grocery store after the hubbs got home, and it was not packed beyond what i had ever seen. i did not drop a dozen eggs on the floor and it did not take 30 minutes to check out. i did not forget to get benedryl for all of the people in my family who are not sick - so i did not have to make another trip out to cvs. they were not out of benedryl. {and remember, i'm not pregnant - so i do NOT have to worry about what kind of medicine i take!} i did not wait in line to ask the pharmacist if it was okay to take the generic brand while pregnant. i did not grab a tabloid magazine at check out to keep me occupied while i'm sleeping so soundly tonight. the elderly gentlement checking out next to me most certainly did not comment on 'reading my baby that kind of trash' and i did not get politely annoyed.

to top it all off, i had not just cleaned up the kitchen & put the groceries away when my husband's carbonated beverage exploded everywhere. it is not still sticky in there because we most certianly got the mop out right away. i am not planning on taking a hot bath & taking 2 benedryl and going to bed at 9 pm. nope. not this mama. i don't know about your house, but it is definitely a picture perfect life over here... and i do not love it anyway.

soccer game.

saturday night i had the pleasure of attending my first professional soccer game.

you wouldn't know it by looking at jeff and i - but we don't know the first thing about soccer. {the hubbs has picked up a few things here and there this year...}

we just happen to have a good friend who works for fc dallas and has invited us to all sorts of soccer events {i.e. the world cup} and given us {jeff} all sorts of soccer gear. so we look like we are big fans, don't we???