White-Out!

What in the world!!??? It is only October. We had a flat-out blizzard today. Mike came home at 3pm and said that the weather (and roads) were fine about 8 miles south of us. I still can't get over how different our weather is compared to Colorado Springs. This should have been disclosed before we bought the house!

37 weeks
Over the weekend the baby “dropped,” meaning the baby entered the birth canal. I didn’t think I could possibly use the bathroom anymore, but I was wrong. I have had a big increase in cramps/contractions. They are painful. The other night they woke me up. Of course none of this means anything. I like to think they mean the baby is going to come early, but I know better.

We had our first Lamaze class on Tuesday night. It was a lot of fun. There were tons of pregnant gals in there! The two girls that we were sitting beside both have the same due date as me. How funny! Mike was great. He is going to be the best birth coach, as long as he doesn’t see any blood or needles- this could be a problem. We got to tour the labor and delivery area. It is newly remodeled. Now they have private rooms instead of having to share. We missed the final class due to last night's weather, but we feel like we know the basics.

My next appointment is Tuesday. I'm excited to see if there has been any progress.

36 weeks

Only 4 weeks to go!! Well, maybe. It could be sooner. I had a check-up yesterday. Everything is fine. I finally got a ‘Stork Pass’ for the hospital. It’s a special parking pass for big pregnant ladies like me. That is exciting. I don’t go to the hospital for check-ups now, but I wanted one of those passes so bad when I was going.
It snowed ALL DAY yesterday. I mean, it absolutely dumped on us. The roads were terrible. Of course, yesterday was the only day I had places that I had to go. I was nervous about driving, even though it’s nothing new to me. Luckily, once I got out of our area the roads were not as bad. I may have said this before, but we live 1000 feet higher than Colorado Springs. We get completely different weather than they do, usually meaning more snow and wind.


This is what it looked like this morning- the roads were nothing but ice.
Last night I had a wives club meeting to go to and by then the roads were even worse. One of Mike’s co-workers (really, she’s his boss) and I road together. I figured she was a safe bet since she had her little daughter with her. As it turns out, she does not have a 4wd vehicle. I was ready for her to turn around and take me home before we got out of the neighborhood! She was really nervous too, but she drove slowly and we made it to the meeting and home just fine.
The meeting was fun. Not many people were there because of the weather, but it made it easier to get to know the girls. To be honest, for the first part of the meeting I was more interested in food. For the past month I have wanted nothing but deserts and have not indulged. Every night I tell Mike how much I want a brownie with ice cream, chocolate syrup, and plain M&Ms. Or sometimes I just want the M&Ms. Last night there were two chocolate cakes and I had a big piece of each. It was great! I figured I deserved it. Keeping that belly in check has been a lot of work.

Mike and I finally got a rocker/glider for the baby’s room. I have been looking on Craig’s List for months and finally found one. That was the last piece of furniture that we needed. Until now we had the pack-n-play in the corner of the room and the swing just sitting in the middle of the room. It was a mess. Things are finally coming together! All we need is the baby.

35 weeks

This has been a long two weeks! I am finally recovering from the flu. I had no idea it would take so long. This weekend was the first time I felt like it was OK to be in public and not spread my germs… not that we went anywhere. The weather here has been horrible. Saturday the temperature stayed in the 20’s. It was really icy and the roads were dangerous. Sunday it warmed up just enough to clear the roads, so we finally got out of the house.

Last week Mike went on his first trip to New Mexico for his job. It sounds like he will go there several times a year. He was only gone for a few days, so it wasn't too bad. I was busy sleeping anyway. I sleep a lot these days. I have never been a nap taker, but in the afternoon I can’t keep my eyes open. I feel like it’s the first trimester all over again, except now the baby feels like he’s going to fall out any minute and I wish he would! I tell him everyday that he can come on out if he wants to. So far he has declined the offer.

It's so funny how many things change in 8 months of pregnancy. I'm pretty sure I always thought that when I got pregnant I would eat only organic foods. Ha! My first trimester I stayed sick and only wanted to eat fast food. I could take out a large fry from McDonald's in seconds, and I never eat stuff like that! I also thought for a while that I definitely did not want to be induced and definitely not have a C-section unless it was an emergency. Right about now I would pay big bucks to have both done! There are other thoughts I had like trying to have a natural birth, but that didn't last long. I've definitely learned to expect the unexpected throughout this process and not to plan anything. I just hope that all goes well at the birth and Dylan is healthy.

I've been thinking about this whole birth thing a lot lately now that I only have 5 weeks left. I'm getting pretty nervous. In a couple of weeks Mike and I are taking a Lamaze class. We are both scared that we are going to laugh the whole time, but hopefully we can keep it together. The main reason I wanted to take the class is so we can get a tour of the labor and delivery area, but who knows- maybe all that breathing will come in handy.

You see that belly? Yeah- it's really heavy.
Dylan is seriously running out of room to move. I can't figure out where his body parts are because he's so cramped up. I know where his head, back and feet are, but everything else is just clumped together. He still moves around quite a bit, but the movements are different. I guess they are a little more gentle... except for when he pushes those feet out. I can't wait to see those little feet!

Tucker has had some pretty bad allergies since he got to Colorado. He had allergies in Montana too, but it is worse here. Monday Mike and I took him for a walk and he had an attack. He started sneezing and sneezing one right after the other. He couldn't even catch his breath it was so bad. We didn't know what in the world to do for him. It was pitiful. We got him home and he got better. His nose drips and it seems to be a little stuffed. The poor thing takes after his mother. I just hope Dylan doesn't have allergies or Tucker's going to have a For Sale sign on. Yeah right.

Update

Mike is fine. He even went to work Friday. He's not 100%, but getting there. Thursday he stayed in bed all day until about 5pm. After taking Tylenol Cold & Flu and drinking Dr. Pepper all day (not the best choice), he had some energy. Around that same time I started coughing and I've gone down hill from there. Thursday night the cough became painful. I talked to a nurse Friday morning and she called a prescription in for me. Today I feel even worse. My body is aching so bad and my chest is killing me. Coughing is torture. Mike was not feeling well for a couple of days before his worst day, which was Thursday. So I am hoping this is my worst day and tomorrow I will start to feel a little better. I am so thankful that I went ahead and called the clinic instead of waiting!

The baby is fine. He is moving as much as he usually does. I am paying close attention to that. I was really nervous about the medicine they gave me, but Aunt Susan, MD did some research for me. We decided I'm better off taking it. Seriously, what would we do without Aunt Susan??



For the record, I do not know if this is H1N1 or not. We both have already had our annual flu shots, and we are anxious to get the H1N1 vaccine. I was not wanting to take that vaccine when this whole pandemic started, but now I am all about it.

H1N1

Mike is sick. Yesterday he came home early from work feeling achy, fatigued, and coughing. This morning he felt worse and has a fever. I do not know if he really has H1N1, but I suspect it. We are going to try to get him to the doctor tomorrow. The one he has to go to has very limited hours and we missed those hours today. Right now Mike is quarantined in the bed room. I am scared to death of catching this. Even if it's not the swine flu, I don't want it. I have been disinfecting EVERYTHING all day. Tonight I am going to sleep in the guest bedroom. We're not taking any chances.

Now I'm 33 weeks. Nothing has really changed since my blog from the other day. Everything is going great.

This is our family room. Yes, those are blue leather couches. We love them, but we expect everyone else to talk smack about them. Notice the wonderful, finally finished wood floors. We still have a few days to go until we can put rugs down.I need to disinfect the camera and then I can take more pictures of the house. Mike was the last one to touch it. I'll keep you posted on how he is doing!!