One more thing

Somehow I forgot to mention yesterday that we booked our 3D/4D ultrasound!  Before I got pregnant we didn't think getting this extra unnecessary ultrasound was an expense we cared to add to the already crazy costs of pregnancy (and infertility!).  However, now that we have had a taste of this little boy's yummy face (yes -very skeletal, but still SO cute!) at our anatomy ultrasound I WANT MORE!  My sister had it done when she was pregnant and it was very cool.  Also, we found that both clinics around Raleigh have a "mid-week special" - yes please!  So, we are booked for our viewing party on September 21st.  My family will be coming up to "watch" and we'll all get a better peek at what he'll look like when he gets here.  I'll be 28.5 weeks at that point and he will be much more newborn-like (which means much less alien-like by default).  Can't wait!

Week 25

 
  I'm sooooo excited...people we've reached the week of.....THE RUTABAGA!  At least that's the weight comparison...from what I understand he is more baby-shaped than vegetable-shaped (not going to lie, had to look up whether a rutabaga was a fruit or a vegetable).  I've (obviously) never seen one but I sure do love saying it.  He is about 13.5 inches long (from his toes to the top of his head) and weighs about 1.5 pounds.  Last week baby D had his first big concert experience.  The verdict is in and he loves Britney Spears.  I did find myself covering my stomach as much as possible essentially trying to cover his little ears I guess.  He has been jumping around allll week - I've been laying around with my shirt pulled up watching my belly twitch and bounce.  I guess it's fitting that my uterus is now the size of a SOCCER BALL considering how much he is bouncing around in there! :)  Super weird - super cool.
  In other news, we thankfully weren't really affected all that much by the hurricane this weekend.  Rain and wind overnight on Friday and quite windy on Saturday with a few more periods of rain.  We ventured out Saturday in spite of the storm to start the baby room transformation.  We went to Office Max and the first desk we saw was the one for us.  And bonus, everything we picked out was on sale!  So, new desk, lateral file, desk chair and mat for underneath the chair were purchased.  When the desk and lateral file get here mid week we'll move my office downstairs and clean the rest of that room out so it can be painted next weekend.  Sherwin Williams paint went on sale today so I went into to do the color match with the bedding.  Turns out that even though their website says, "Just bring in the item you wish to match - a rug, a pillow, fabric swatch, even a competitor's paint swatch. Now, instead of having to settle for a color that's merely "close" to what you need, you can get exactly the color you want." what they actually mean is, we can't really match anything other than another paint - definitely not fabric.  We went to Lowe's and pick out some "pre-made" colors that match quite well so we'll see how the final product looks.  We also picked out the chair rail we want to use so James will be able to go buy that once he has measured the room.  I joked with him early that his nesting instinct has seriously kicked in this weekend!  He not only cleaned out and took apart the bar to make room for the new "office" but he also cleaned out the guest bedroom closet (to store the now-in-pieces bar) and cleaned out the front closet so there would be room for the bookshelf from upstairs.  Really, it makes me tired just typing it :-)  I helped with bits and pieces but mostly I just cleaned today.  I did manage to clean out and organize the floor of the pantry last night which, trust me, was a bigger task than one might think.  Madigan is running around like a crazy person dog extremely concerned about what is going on.  All of this shiftiness makes her nervous.  I'll post before and after pictures once I actually have the after pictures of all of James' hard work.  Good job daddy - the rutabaga is wildly cheering you on while nestled comfortably inside his noisy soccer ball home.
  And finally, Madigan has discovered that mom's giant pillow is the greatest thing ever - especially once she kicks us out of bed and has the whole thing to herself:

Appointment #...I've lost count

Had my monthly appointment yesterday morning.  Another fast one - all vitals look good, top of my uterus is about 1.5-2 inches above my belly button (which is great) and baby boy's heartbeat is strong around 142 BPM.  I did have my biggest weight gain in between last appointment and this appointment at 5 pounds but I'll live.  She just said she didn't want to see a 5 pound gain every time which actually irritated me a bit.  I KNOW THAT,  She meant it in a nice and informative way but this was the first time I've ever seen this lady and I wanted to tell her that I am well aware of how much and how fast I should be gaining.  That's just me though - I've always been very "don't tell me what to do".  All these out of town weekends and out-to-eats will slow down this month.  At the end of the appointment I got the glucose drink for my next appointment.  And in GREAT news they did have orange flavor AND fruit punch flavor!  I've been dreading this glucose test the whole time for the sole reason that I had read a lot of things that said it was an orange flavored drink.  I don't do citrus.  I can't.  I vomit on cue.  So now, a lovely little red sugary bottle is waiting for me in the fridge and Sept. 19th I'll drink half of it before going in for a blood draw to make sure I haven't developed gestational diabetes.  Here's hoping I pass that test with flying colors!

Week 24

I'm starting to feel like I'm in a time warp and December 10 is speeding toward us faster than....well....a speeding bullet.  We did get the bedding in the mail on Friday and LOVE IT so all systems are go as far as going to get paint to match the blue and brown in the bedding and rolling up our (and by "our" if you'll recall I mean James'...and also my mom's) sleeves.  We also MUST find a desk this weekend so we can move the office out of the baby's room and downstairs where it will live from now until I don't know when.  I'll feel better when you can see the progress being made.  Right now I think we could be on a show like "Pregnant in Heels" and get reamed for our lack of preparedness.  We do still have 16 weeks left....AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH ONLY 16 WEEKS!  But our baby skills and knowledge (well, my baby skills and knowledge...) would surely make up for the fact that the only baby thing in the baby's room right now is a swing and a bouncer.   Oh, and Christalina's pack and play.  That's a baby thing, just not a newborn essential thing.

  Though it was another busy weekend it was also another good weekend.  We went to Charlotte for Jill's bridal shower and had a great time and saw lots of family and friends.  We had a great turnout for the shower (those of you who couldn't make it were missed!) and Jill was properly "showered" with gifts and love to prepare her further for her big day.  Little boy Driscoll did put on a little show for most everyone and Jill and Jordan both got to feel and "see" him kick for the first time.  I sort of feel like a carnival act when my stomach is "jumping" ... "Step right up folks!  For just a dollar you can see the amazing stomach twitches and if you're lucky the alien inside just might punch his way out right before your very eyes!"
  Speaking of the little alien inside, he now looks very much like a newborn (instead of a creature from another planet) is 1.25 pounds and nearly a foot long.  He is apparently "long and skinny" so our veggie this week is an ear of corn.  YUM!  Though I can't say I've ever eaten or seen an ear of corn remotely close to a foot long.  Perhaps the people coming up with this stuff live in Nebraska or something.  Don't they grow a lot of corn in Nebraska?  But I digress.
  Finally, I've had a lot of people say they've had a hard time leaving comments.  As far as I can tell if you click on either the title of the particular post OR the word "comment" at the end of the post (as in "0 comments" or "1 comment") it should bring you to a screen with an empty box that says "Post a Comment" above the box.  Once you've finished typing you click the drop down menu beside "Comment as" below the box and choose "Name/URL".  When the box pops up type your name under "name" and you can leave "URL" blank.  Once you hit submit it should post right away.  And if your name is "Sam" or "Jordan" everyone will get to see your witty butt head comments :-P  Give it a try if you don't mind and if it doesn't work let me know in a comment.  BAHAHHAHAHA I crack me up.

Just FYI....

I have apparently not adjusted to nor become used to the belly.  I got up from dinner last night and didn't step far enough away from the chair before I turned to go past it into the kitchen.  I ran into the chair with ONLY my stomach...sort of hitting it from the side.  Perhaps I should make it a habit to take one step back before proceeding forward.  Or maybe I just need a sign on my back that says "CAUTION- WIDE RIGHT TURNS...OH YEAH, AND WIDE LEFT TURNS TOO".  Just a thought.

Week 23

 

Welllll the beginning of this week (aka today) was an eventful one for the Driscolls.  James' car battery died once he got to work today and it took him 4 hours of "stuff" to finally go get a new battery and put it in.  That worked but it was 4 hours wasted.  I had a marvelous weekend with Dr. Liebesland in Columbus but got to the airport to find that my first flight was delayed at least an hour which means I'd miss my connection and also the last flight to Charlotte for the night.  Yikes!  Was able to get changed to another flight to Raleigh instead (van and Madigan are in Charlotte but we'll figure that out) but it left 2 hours later and didn't arrive in Raleigh until 12:40am!  In the meantime there was a flight 2 gates down from me going DIRECTLY to Raleigh and leaving in the next few minutes.  That wasn't given as an option when I called the "help desk" for Delta so I assumed it was full but as a last ditch effort I walked up to the counter for that flight as soon as the last person was checked in to ask.  IT WASN'T FULL!  She typed all kinds of things quickly into her computer and got me on the flight!  So, I flew directly to Raleigh and got in at 7 instead of 12:40.  We did sit on the runway for 30 minutes waiting for a gate but at that point it didn't matter at all.  And in an even bigger twist James told me when he picked me up that when he looked up the flight I was on he found out it was actually delayed over an hour in Columbus!  Had that delay not happened I wouldn't have even known there was a direct flight to Raleigh!  Thank you God!
  I also forgot to mention last week that we finally got the "results" of our audit and have to pay almost exactly HALF of what we were both expecting!  It's still a decent amount of money but we were prepared to have to pay a lot more.  Stress relief for sure.
  As for baby D he is taking all this in stride :)  I feel him kicking all throughout the day and James felt a really big distinct kick one night last week before bed.  The little guy is just over a pound now and over 11 inches long.  That means he's the size (weight wise anyway) of a large mango this week.  I still LOVE feeling him move around.

New hair? Yes please!

People - it's hot....and it's not getting any less hot.  It was time.  It's actually been time for a while but I've just been lazy/haven't had the time.  This isn't the first time I've gone from super long to super short and it probably won't be the last time.  She cut 3 pony tails worth of intense 10 inch (at least) hair for Locks of Love and this is what I was left with....

She also did a super fabulous job thinning it out without making it look thin or fuzzy (as if my hair could EVER look thin...pshhhh).  Also, I had a $10 off coupon so when she told me about this protein conditioner thing that was on special for $13 and supposedly helps ease frizz for 4-6 weeks I told her to bring it on.  So, I'll let you know if it works.  But, here's to my new "mom do"  ;-P  I LOVE IT!

Week 22

This month marks the start of non-stop weekend action for us (well, mostly me).  Although looking back at the calendar we've pretty much had non-stop weekend action since February.  So, please disregard that first sentence :)  This weekend we had our childbirth classes.  The first thing we did Saturday morning was introduce ourselves and say how many weeks along we were.  There was one girl who I think was 25 weeks, one who was 29 weeks with twins and everyone else was in the 30's!  One even at 37 weeks!  Guess we were a little early, but all the Saturday/Sunday options were filled through September and October and it's hard to start planning as far out as November with James' ever changing on call schedule (they are hiring new people now so the schedule further out will depend on how many people they hire and when they start in the call rotation).  Soooo, at 22 weeks we were the out of place kids, but that doesn't bother me.  I'm glad to have it done.  The "class" was held in the waiting area of a Duke Medical Center which was...unexpected.  It wasn't that bad though and the lady who taught it was really great.  Her name was Ho Yu Pan and (no lie) she has a brother named Peter.  So, she said we should tell our kids that we know Peter Pan's sister.

Soaked up lots of good information in the 8 hours worth of class, although I must say that 8 hours of talk about labor and delivery is enough to send anyone over the edge.  I wasn't really worried about delivery before now because honestly I wasn't thinking much about it.  There is obviously no turning back.  I have to do it.  And, it's the only way to meet the little boy.  But now that I've heard and seen *that* much detail about it, yikes.  I don't know if I've talked any before about my ideas about a birth plan but they are very simple...labor until I can't take the pain and then request meds.  I know it's all the rage these days to either go in planning to give birth naturally or avoid the hospital altogether.  I have the utmost respect and regard for women who PLAN to do it that way, let alone go through with it.  But I know myself.  I know that the idea of going into something and having NO IDEA how painful and difficult it will actually be will give me intense anxiety.  I don't know if I could delivery naturally or not.  I do know that the stress and anxiety I'd feel (and the failure and let down I'd feel if I couldn't do it) would be tremendous and I guarantee they would interfere with the process.  I was pleased to learn today that there is an option before the epidural that supposedly manages about 50% of the pain.  I can try that option and worst case it won't work.  It could get me dilated a bit more before moving to the epidural and getting chained to the bed which would be awesome.  Best case it would be enough and I wouldn't have to get an epidural at all.

Enough about that.  Busy week ahead before I fly to Columbus to visit (Dr.) Megan Liebesland.  And hopefully this week will also include a breakfast date with Sam - we've been friends since the 8th grade (or so) which is quite impressive considering pretty much all my other friends are from college and beyond.

PS- I heart this maternity pillow.

James on the other hand could certainly live without it.  It's also kind of like having an ocean in between us.  A big fluffy ocean.  The other night while attempting to keep it as far over on my side as possible I went to hug the side and it fell off the bed.  I nearly rolled off the bed with it.  It was quite traumatic but now every time I think about it I laugh.  Probably wouldn't be laughing had I *actually* rolled off the bed...hopefully that isn't a part of my next update ... or any update to come. :-)

A million new things and thoughts

Hello family and friends!  I have a lot to pack into this post so you may want to grab yourself a drink ;-P

First - last Thursday I went down to Charlotte after a whirlwind of preparation of both work and home stuff.  We headed out as soon as I got into town - went with Jill and mom to Tot trade.  Wasn't sure what to expect and I was overwhelmed at the idea.  Basically it's a GIANT consignment sale.  When I say giant I mean a FULL convention center.  We got in early with our "first time mom" pass.  We were there from 3:30 til....wait for it....7 O'CLOCK!  I think everyone has a pretty good idea about how I feel about shopping and I was certainly DONE by the time we left but all in all it was a good time.  Really fun to finally look at baby stuff with the intention of buying!  Got a great swing and bouncy seat dirt cheap and both look brand new.  Also got the little guy's wardrobe pretty much stocked through Feb. or March.  Basically there were more clothes than I've ever seen broken up by gender and size.  Mom and I went through a few giant racks (which wasn't everything...we just got full and stopped) and then you take everything over to a sorting area.  After going through the millions of little boy clothes and girl clothes for Christa we had picked up we narrowed it down to about half a million outfits for purchase.  We're talking $2-$4 per outfit (onesies/gowns/pants/shirts etc.)  For those of you who are more visual here is a pictoral of 3 and a half hours of baby shopping...

Who knew boy clothes were so freaking cute!!  And how to-die-for are those little shoes?!  Can't wait to start playing dress up with my real life doll baby :-)  All in all it was a great day with mom and sister.  Which was good because as great as Thursday was Friday was just as intense in the opposite direction.

Long story short my mom and I went up to Kernersville to do a set up and the van died.  Almost 2 and half hours later the tow truck showed up and dropped us off at a rental car place after loading up the van.  Mom had to get to the Rascal Flatts concert in Charlotte so the whole ordeal was that much more stressful.  We made it back to Charlotte in one piece (albeit sweaty tired beasts) and mom and the crew made it to the concert just a bit late.

Slept in Saturday and then got everything ready for my flight to Jackson, Mississippi.  Courtney was ordained as a Baptist minister this weekend and it was wonderful.  I got to see Dabney and Ami also.  The girls gave me and James a fabulous baby gift (THANK YOU!) and Dabs added Vandy socks and a Vandy towel/burp cloth.  It was a fun but short trip - came back to Charlotte Monday afternoon.

Back to baby stuff - I've been reading a book called "The Happiest Baby on the Block" and found some of the most interesting and unbelievable info yet.  I don't think anyone would argue that the way a baby is made is an absolute miracle.  The more you dig in and realize just how much goes into those 9 months the more shocking and amazing it becomes.  From the book (emphasis mine) - "Over these nine months, your fetus develops at lighting speed.  His brain adds two hundred fifty thousand nerve cells a minute and his body grows one billion times in weight and infinitely in complexity."  I can't even wrap my head around that.  This week baby D is the length of a carrot and weighs three quarters of a pound.  Next week he'll hit the pound mark which is exciting by itself.  Consider though that there will be 18 weeks left before my due date.  In those 18 weeks he'll go from 1 pound to 7-9 pounds!  He is working quite regularly on his acrobatic skills and I can feel him throughout the day.  He's still very shy (aka difficult) when it comes to letting other people in on the fun.  Generally he stops moving as soon as someone else tries to feel.

I was excited when I got back to Raleigh to find one of the things I ordered waiting for me.  This was a present for James and his boy...check this out:

James was QUITE excited - they are going to look SO cute in their matching Harley gear and trail shoes :-)  We're taking the somewhat dreaded baby classes this Saturday and Sunday so I'll let you know how that goes.  James is going to a Beer, Bourbon and BBQ festival after the Saturday session so the weekend won't be a total bust for him :-)  We've got big plans and lots of work to do in the coming weeks so the updates might show up more often.  Thanks for hanging in there through this one!

Week 21

First, I must sincerely apologize for the delayed posting!  I've been reprimanded by more than one person so SOOORRYYY!  I just got back home tonight from a crazy time away.  I have so much to post about but I think I'll do a long post tomorrow and just end tonight saying would you check out that giant belly?!?  Granted, I ate A TON this weekend but also, 19 weeks to go.  I'm getting big and there is no turning back :-)  Looking forward to a great night sleep tonight with MATERNITY PILLOWS!  ... thank you Jill for letting me use yours, I'm extremely excited about it.  Check in tomorrow for an actual update!