10 Days Until Eviction! Pros vs. Cons of C-sections

Happy Friday Everyone! Here is my week 38 bump picture...

It's crazy to thing but 10 days from now is eviction day for this lil man! At this point, I have come to except the fact that he is staying put and we'll have to go in after him.

The idea of a C-section wasn't ideal for me by any means. Having a major surgery and recovering from that, while trying to learn how to take care of a newborn wasn't what I was hoping for but that is the hand I've been dealt.

Over the past few weeks I have talked to other moms who had C-sections. I try to be a person who looks at the glass "half full" so here is my personal list of pros/ cons to this situation.

Lets start with the cons:

1.  Having a major surgery.
Having someone cut open your abs, pull a baby out of you, take your baby away, while you still have to lay there and get closed up will be all sorts of sucky!

2. Not getting to hold your baby right away and start the bonding process.
I've never been a big "baby person" so the thought of having to wait to start the bonding process does make me nervous because I'm not sure how tried/ out of it I'm going to be after the surgery is done. What if all I want to do is sleep after surgery? I know to people who are already moms this concern might seem silly, but it is a real concern of mine.

3. Longer recovery.
I'll be interested in on long the doctor will make me stay in the hospital. I know I'll want to go home as soon as I can; but I'm also going to be nervous about leaving because that means I'll have to relay on my family and friends to take care of the baby and me.

4. I live in a split level house!
This may seem like a odd con, but that means I have stairs I have to go up and down to get to different parts of my house. And if I had learned anything from talking to the other C-section moms is that "stairs are the devil".

However, there are some pros to this situation to consider:

1. NO LABOR!!! (Well- in theory)
In 10 days from now (as long as I don't go into labor early) I will show up a hospital with my bags, get settled into my room, get prepped for surgery, and shortly after that- we'll have a baby! No laboring for hours on end, which is biggest pro ever!

2. Picking your kids birthday. (Again- in theory)
When I first found out he was breech, the doctor told me I was going to have a C-section and then proceeded to ask "So when do you want to have him?" She pretty much told me I could have any day between a week before my date due (11th) up to my due date (18th). Being that Sam had already planned on taking that Monday off (and Monday was a good day for my doctor as well) the 17th was a pretty easy pick. Also, I won't lie- I wanted to give this baby as much time as I could to try to actually flip around on his own.

3. Family and friends can schedule their lives.
Again, this one is based on the kid following the schedule we have set. However, if all goes to plan, then our parents, siblings, and friends can all schedule when they want to come by and visit with us. Also, for example, my mom can easily work her early morning job because she'll be done with work around the time I go into surgery- so she doesn't lose out on pay just because she doesn't know when he's going to come.

Like I said before, the C-section isn't ideal but I have comes to terms with the fact that a C-section is the best option for both the health of myself and my baby at this point. I still would prefer if he got into the correct position on his own; but I'm just prepping myself because the likely hood of that happening is less and less everyday as he gets bigger and is running out of room in there.

So like I said- I like to look at the glass "half full" so the plan is to enjoy the next 10 days and live them up "baby free"! I hope everyone has a great weekend. No big plans here- but that sounds like a great plan to me!

3 Years of Marriage- All Documented Through the Blog!

Today marks my 3 year wedding anniversary. Being that I've been with Sam so long, 3 years is a small drop in the bucket of the 13 years total we've been together. However, these 3 years have been filled with some of the best memories we've had together!

When I first started this blog (if you been reading this since the beginning), you know I started it as a way I  save all my special memories, which included the wedding planning process. Different posts ranged from talking about my shoes I was going to wear at the wedding...

To the wedding shower...

 

To our plans for a "friends" honeymoon...

Once the wedding was final over with, my blog made a turn to talk about all the fun things we were doing as newlyweds which included recaps about our honeymoon...

The house buying process...

To moving into our first home together...

For our first anniversary, Sam and I extended our little family to include our fur baby- Shamrock!

As we moved on to the our second year of marriage, we got our first dose of parenting with Shamrock and all his medical issues. I call him my "special needs child" because he's made many doctors visits.

 

Also during that 2nd year of marriage, I found myself really committing to my weight loss goals so there were many (many) of my posts about my progress and how I lost the weight.

 

 

The real reason for the weight loss wasn't just to look and feel better (I mean that was part of it- don't get me wrong), but I knew I wanted to be a healthy as I could be for when I did start this journey I'm currently on towards motherhood.

 

As we started this third year of marriage, we knew we were going to start "trying" to start our family. However, I wanted to wait until after our trip to Mexico (which was for Joel and Casey's friends honeymoon trip) so I could enjoy my new smaller body and all the booze I could drink!

 



 

However, little did I know (even though it was joked about on the trip) I was 2-3 weeks pregnant while in Mexico. Opps! So much for "trying" after the trip.

 



 

 



On March 9th of this year, our world was forever changed by a little blue line.  Because of that line, a cookie cake was bought and we started down this journey to becoming parents.
 

 

As this year has gone along, this blog has made another turn and focused a lot on my pregnancy and getting ready to become parents. From the first picture of our baby...

 

 

To learning the sex of the baby...

 

 

To my weekly bump pictures...

 

 

 

Which bring us to today! We only have 19 days until this baby will be born, so I know this year will be filled with many new and exciting (and also could be scary) times ahead of us!

A message to my hubby on our anniversary:
 

~Bubs,

I love you more than words can explain. You have been my best friend for over 13 years and I was so happy 3 years ago when I finally could call you my "husband". I know you are going to be an awesome daddy to his little man, and I'm excited to have you by my side for this next chapter in our lives together! 

Bump & Weekend Update

Happy Monday Everyone! I had a great weekend, and I hope you did too! My weekend started off on Friday at a work conference. It's nice to learn new things and connect with other people in my field.

However, being that I was away from the office at the conference on Friday, I'm really hoping that I don't walk into a complete mess at work. Here's hoping because...

Work stress + 36 (almost 37) weeks pregnant = no fun for anyone!

There was an extra plus side of attending the conference other than the professional development; being that it was in Bloomington, I got the spend some time with my friends who live there as well. So it was a win, win for me!

I spent Friday at my friend's Chris and Lindsay's place, and come Saturday I evented a baby shower for my friend Brittany!

Her shower was at one of her friend's houses. Compared to mine, it was very low key which it was really nice.  Also, there were so many other young mommies in the room that the advice was flying from every direction. I know the advice wasn't just helpful for Brittany but myself as well being that most of my close friends don't have kids.



After the shower, I headed back home. Sam and I didn't do a ton yesterday, but we did make some more progress on getting things ready for this little man's arrival. I can't believe (assuming he doesn't turn around), I'll be heading to the hospital come 3 weeks from today- CRAZY!!

Also, being that we are coming down to the home stretch- I figure it was time to do another bump picture update. I left off on my last update post at 31 weeks- so here is all the bump pictures since then!

 

Week 32- Finished painting the nursery. (That a long weekend of work!)

 

Week 33- Our Baby Shower!

 



Week 34- Size of a cantaloupe!

 

Week 35- 1 month to go! Taken on 10/18 & Due on 11/18

 

Week 36: He's "breach" (Take 1)

 

 (Take 2) Week 36: He's breech! (Once I figured out I had the wrong "breach" on the sign)

 

Come tomorrow, I'll have my 37 week appointment. I'm assuming my doctor is going to keep checking every week to see if this kid has decided to turn the correct way, so send thoughts or prayers our way that he'll be turn correctly or at least by the time Nov. 17th comes. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted and I hope to do weekly updated from here on out! (Wish me luck on that one as well!)

 

Have a great week everyone!





Week 36: Pregnancy Progress Update

So we are in the home stretch and with only 4 weeks left to go, I'm going to the doctor every week from here on out. Tuesday was an interesting appointment but I'll get into that more later in the post, but here's the general updates of what's been going on for the last 6 weeks...

Weight Gained: Yeah this last trimester I don't think you can help but put on the pounds. I weighed in at my appointment at 186 pounds, which means I'm up 32 pounds from my first appointment.

At this point, it is what it is and I'm not trying to stress too much about my weight being that I'm still making it to the gym a few times a week which has to count for something! Plus, I'm still not at my heaviest weight so I count that as a win!

Symptoms: Bigger and Bigger belly! And a ton of movement! This kid is a wild boy and I'm pretty sure as soon as he comes out he won't be able to sit still.

Movement: Like I just said- YES! Our friend EJ was over visiting last week, and she got to see my shirt move because he was rolling around so much. The face she made when she saw it was pretty funny and awesome all at the same.

Food Cravings: Still not really. But I have bought candy more often then I normally would, but when I do buy candy it's because I looking for an extra sugar kick for when I'm feeling sluggish. Growing a baby can take a lot of energy out of you.

Food Aversions: Again not really. Now that this baby is taking up move room, I find myself not being able to eat very much before getting full. And if I eat too much- heartburn will happen.

Sleep: It depends on the night. Last week I found myself sleeping in the new recliner in the baby's room because sleeping flat on my back or side just wasn't working for me. I also found a good use for my "Boppy Pillow" until this kid gets here- it makes for great leg/ hips support which has made sleeping a lot easier this week.



Stretch Marks? So far so good.... knock on wood. All I can say is heavy, thick lotion has been my friend throughout the pregnancy.

Miss Anything? A hot- hot tub and red wine. Anytime I get into my 96 degree hot tub it's nice, but I can't wait until I can get into it at over 100 degrees again. Also, anytime I see someone on TV drinking a glass of red wine, I can't help but be a little jealous. However, I can have both of these things again soon enough.

Looking forward to: Many things... but the one that is coming up this weekend is attending my friend Brittany's baby shower! Additionally, I get to visit with Chris and Lindsay while I'm in town for Brittany's shower. It's nice to have a few friends in the same town, so I get to spend time with multiple people in just one short road trip!

Belly Button in or out? It's a innie/ outtie! The middle part is still in but the edges are popping out. So needles to say- it's pretty weird looking.

Happy or moody most of the time? At work- yeah moody is what's up. I currently have no tolerance for stupid people, students who don't make appointments to see me, or people who call me 6 times in 15 minutes. If I didn't pick up the phone first 5 times, what makes you think the 6th time is going to be the charm?!?

New Baby Items: Everything we got at our baby shower! Only thing we bought is the last few weeks was the baby's crib and dresser- which won't be here until after the baby is born... opps! But we got the changing table and rocker for him to sleep in put together so those are ready to go.

Wedding Ring- On or off? Still on! I count myself very lucky that I've haven't had much swelling in either my hands or feet!

Other: Well the big news that I found out at my doctors appointment is that this kid is "breech". Yeah- I'm not excited about this because the doctor has schedule a C-section for November 17th. So unless this kids flips into the position in next 3 weeks, we'll be meeting him of the 17th!

Vlog: 35 weeks = 35 days to go!



35 weeks = 35 days to go!

How crazy is that? This little boy will be here before we know it!

 



 

Being that I got so many sweet comments from people on my last "Vlog", I figured I would do another one because it so much easier for me and that is what counts when you are in your final few weeks of pregnancy. I hope you enjoy!



Baby Shower

I hope everyone had a nice weekend! Today is the last day of my extended weekend and I'm glad I took a few extra days off being that we had such a busy weekend being that we had our baby shower on Sunday! (Warning: This is a very picture heavy post!)

(Just in case you didn't know- we are naming the baby Salvatore after Sam's grandpa.)

The weekend started with my cousins coming in from Michigan to spend Saturday night at our place so we were able to have some real time to hang out and getting caught up.

I always love getting to spend time with these girls and I'm so happy they could make the trip being that I don't have family that lives in Illinois.

Sunday came and it was the big day- our baby shower!

 

I actually feel so blessed because of the amount of  people who came out to our shower. I had a full table of just my family-

 

 

Which included both of my grandmas!

 

 



 

There was another full table of just our friends who I know all will play an important roll in this baby's life-

 

 

And of course there was many people from Sam's extended family and family friends who also shared in our special day!

 

(The Great Aunts- the sisters of Grandpa "Sam") 

 



(The Creekside Crew! The neighborhood friends.)

 

Sam and I felt so loved because we know how much this baby is already cared for by so many people. And that love was shown 10-fold by the amount of generosity that was in all the gifts that we were given to us for this baby.

 

 

(My aunt Sue made those stuffed animals- how cute are they?!?)

 

Our baby shower was a lot like our wedding shower, and I probably couldn't have made it through the day without Sam by my side and all our friends who helped us keep rolling with all the gift opening so we weren't there all day!

 

 

 

 

 

And there is no other way that I could end this post but to saying a HUGE "Thank You!" to Sam's parents for putting this shower on for us! 

 



 

This day wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for you!





My First Vlog- Video Blog! - Under 50 days to go & Weekend Update!

I won't lie- typing out a whole blog takes up a lot of time and I just don't feel like doing it- so there! So instead I give you my first Vlog- Video Blog!

 



 Like I stated in the Vlog, the pictures from the weekend are below for you to enjoy!