Baby Watch: volume 3

Beck snapped this gorgeous photo of me the other night. I am huge and exhausted LOL!!
Oh! Gee found a glider and a recliner on craigslist and we picked them up on Friday. Love them! Can't wait to be rocking baby in them :)

We're still waiting on mr.Santos to make his grand entrance. We are trying EVERYTHING possible to try to induce labor. Nothin yet. Just more of the same contractions that aren't regular at all.

We had our doctor visit today and we dilated half a cm more but that was the only change. Needless to say, I was a little bummed. It's ok though, in literally one week from today at the latest, we will be in labor for sure. Our induction is officially scheduled for September 7th in the morning. :-)

After our appointment, beck and I went for pancakes (yum) and then walked, walked, walked. We figure it can only do me and the mijo good and hopefully gravity will help pull him down (and out!!).

I think that's everything! Just spending lots of awesome quality time with Doula Becky :) that's her new name. It's been so great having her here with us. I can't imagine this week without her!

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38 weeks!

How far along? 38 weeks ;-) which is technically 9 ½ months!

(I have no shame anymore.... big old belly sticking out... oh well!)

How big is baby? Apparently he’s a “full-figured baby”

Development: getting bigger as we speak - lol

How huge is mama? Gained a pound so yeah, I think we hit the wall because I’ve been eating NON-STOP. I’m just always hungry lately!

Movement? He’s a big boy so I feel every little thing he does. I still love it, even when the jabs are a bit painful. I love being so connected to my little one. Lately he’s been getting more hiccups. Maybe it’s because I’m eating so much??? Who knows…

Food? Like I said, WAY too much. And starting yesterday, I began eating everything I could find on the internet that said it could induce labor. So, yesterday was pineapple and eggplant parm, and I think tonight I’ll look for a good Indian restaurant for some nice spicy curry (yum, by the way!… I love me some good Indian food) other things I saw were some herbal remedies, but I’m a little leery of those. We bought a tea that is all over the pregnancy boards that’s supposed to help tone your uterus, and we brought it to our doc appt on Tuesday, she’d never heard of it, so back to whole foods you go, tea! I don’t want to chance anything.

Belly button? Still hanging in there!

Preparations: along with eating special foods to bring out the baby, we’ve been walking a lot, I’m trying to stay on my feet as much as I can hoping that gravity will pull him out ;-) and we’re trying as much as we can that is safe to bring him out. Any suggestions are very welcome! We want to avoid a C-Section as much as possible. That’s my scariest scenario right now… Other preparations that are fun are getting things ready for baby and making things! I looked up online how to make my own moby wrap and we did it!! Very exciting. Gee wore his for a little while with a teddy bear in it. So cute.

Pregnancy symptoms? Same old. Funny though, I still feel like I’m going to miss being pregnant. I’ll never complain seriously about anything. I’m a happy preggo.

Crazy things giving me anxiety? Now I just want him to come on his own!! I REALLLLLLY hope we don’t make it to our induction date. This weekend would be ideal. But still, no predicting.

Labor Signs? The usual. Some contractions. But today I think I am the definition of nesting. I’m tearing the whole kitchen apart. I cleaned out the whole fridge and scrubbed all the shelves and I just took a break from reorganizing all of the kitchen cabinets. I’m trying to reserve my energy just in case, but it’s hard to fight this urge to organize. LOL

Milestones? I guess knowing for sure that he’ll be here within 2 weeks is a milestone!

Looking forward to next? Beck is coming in tonight to stay with us for a week. Of course, we’re all hoping I go into labor any time now. Think labor thoughts for me please!

here are the latest nursery photos, almost finished!!






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Baby Watch: volume 2

This morning we had our final sonogram. Bitter sweet. We saw him drinking and moving his big old lips :-) he weighs almost 8lbs give or take and is very happy in the belly.

After we had the sonogram, we went to breakfast and then to the mall where Gabe fully intended to walk the baby out of me. We went to most of the stores with baby stuff. :) it was fun, but a little painful and tiring to be honest.





We saw these Halloween outfits that made me think of Ella and Santos trick-or-treating in a few years.


This shark costume is awful. Of course gabe loved it!


After the mall, we went to our regular check up where I hoped to get better news. Here are the stats:

Dilation: 1.5cm (same)

Effaced: 30% (same)

Head station: -2 (same!!)

Blood pressure: normal

Strep B test results: negative (yay!!)

She gave us the news that 1. She's going out of town labor day weekend. Yeah. Great. The very first appointment I had she said "don't worry, I never go anywhere, I'll be here to deliver your baby..." thanks. That's just lovely. And 2. If he doesn't come by labor day weekend.... We have to be induced. :(

Since he's already measuring so big, they're worried that he'll grow too much and we'll have problems during a vaginal delivery. So they don't want us to go past our due date. They're scheduling us to be induced on September 7th. Sooo he'll be here in 2 weeks max! Crazy!!

I reallllly hope that he decides to make his grand entrance sooner. I ideally would like to do as much of this process as natural as possible. I'd rather avoid pitocin (the medicine that makes you have contractions) and I'd like to go as long as I can without an epidural (I'd like to avoid it too but it's not a hard no) plus... I'm going to be a wreck the night before. Christmas times a million with a dash of sky diving.

but on the up side, we can plan things now! I'd like to take him to NC to meet Ella and have their first Halloween together. He'll be almost 2 months by then. I think it would be safe for him to travel.

So after the appointment I was kind of bummed. We drove to boynton to faith farm to see about a rocker. No luck. Then we stopped at la-z-boy. Saw one there but we're going to check craigslist for a little while longer.

The ladies are all here tonight painting so I'll have photos to update tomorrow :-) yay!

So tired.....

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37 weeks

How far along? Well folks… we made it! We’re full term!!! And only 3 weeks till our due date! He literally can arrive at any moment, and it will be ok! How exciting!!

How big is baby? He’s finally a watermelon! We find out just how big at our sonogram on Tuesday. I’ll keep you posted, of course!

Development: Come on out baby!! ;-) we’re ready when you are, love!

How huge is mama? Ugh… don’t ask me to pick anything up off the floor. It’s near impossible. LOL I’m so huge. Good news though, I didn’t gain anything this week. I’m supposed to plateau… maybe I hit it?

Movement? He’s trying to kick his way out…

Food? Ice. I am chomping on ice non-stop. I think it’s because I’m anxious though. It’s my kind of stress reliever.

Belly button? Same! I don’t think it’ll be flat.

Labor Signs? Yes, contractions. Real and Braxton hicks. Nothing regular enough to cause concern though. Just really uncomfortable at times.

Crazy things giving me anxiety? Nothing really. I'm just waiting for things to happen now ;-)

Milestones? WE’RE FULL TERM!!!!!

Looking forward to next? Our last sonogram will be on Tuesday morning. I’m excited, and a little bit sad. Everything is coming to an end and I know I’ll miss being pregnant. If it weren’t for such an amazing payoff in the end (I get to hold, snuggle, and smother my Santos with love) I think I’d want to be pregnant forever. I SO enjoy each kick and moment with my little alien. I’m the type of person, if you haven’t noticed by now, who doesn’t want to wait to hear a secret, wants to know the surprise, and definitely opens gifts early if no one stops me… I totally thought I’d be the same with this pregnancy! I thought I’d be “Get out of there now! I need to see what you look like already!” but nope! I’m comfortable with him staying in there as long as he needs. I know this is such a special time and I’m treasuring every second of it!

Here are photos of the pediatrician's office that we visited last night:















Daddy is still looking for things to put together (he's nesting) and so he put the baby bath tub together, and then mama took a tubby. :-)


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Car seat

Daddy got the itch to put something together so he put the car seat in the car!

We're ready for you Santito!!

Also, Nichole and Renee came to paint last night :-) Updated photos in the album but here are some:

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baby watch! Volume 1

So today was our first appointment where we had an internal to see if the baby made any progress.

yesterday... sucked. To be blunt. I am having contractions and it was to the point where my uterus didn't soften for more than a minute or so every hour... I got nervous because it was like that all day and through most of last night. The only relief I got was laying on my left side with a pillow propped under my huge belly. During the tightness, I would get contractions, but they weren't time-able so that was ok. I woke up this morning and it was better and my tummy felt back to normal and was ok until I got to the doctors office, I had another contraction. And sitting here now, I have the tightness again and had another one...

All that said... I told my doctor when I saw her today and she basically said not to worry, it's ok, and take it easy and a Tylenol...

yeah.

I'm ok with the uncomfortableness... I don't need a Tylenol. I just wanted to be sure it was normal/common/ok that my belly won't loosen it's grip on my baby! LOL

She seemed unconcerned. So I guess I'll be unconcerned too. So, I'm basically putting myself on bed rest. I barely get sleep at night as it is and the only time my tummy will quit freaking out is when I'm on my left side, so... that's what I'll do... I will be like my cats and take frequent naps. :-)

OK - so here are the stats from the office visit:

Dilation (opening of the cervix to let him through, at 10 they make you push)? 1.5cm

Effacement (flattening/softening of the cervix)? 30%

Head station (how far up he is, 0 is right before he makes his debut)? -2 (to be honest, I totally thought he was lower... it so much feels like it...)

Tests? Group B Strep (results at next appt.)

So he's making progress... the thing is though, none of this matters whatsoever... I can be like this for 3 more weeks, or I can be in labor tonight. There's no predicting when he'll be here at all. I just pray that my water breaks so that I know I'm really in labor and won't have to time these contractions.

If I do need to though, I have an app. :-) leave it to the iphone to have an app to help you time your contractions.

Ok, that's about all I got for right now. I'm going back to my bed. OH! 2 things - Nichole and Renee will be coming tonight to work on the nursery. Photos to come hopefully! :) and tomorrow night we have our first pediatrician interview. hope my tummy behaves and I'll be able to focus! lol

ok, NOW I'm finished. (think relaxed thoughts for me) :)

I feel yuckie today

that is all.

:)

Date night and hospital tour

Last night we went on a date :) we ate at the yardhouse (I really love their tomato soup)


Gabe had a ginormous pot pie.

Then we saw "the other guys" with will Farrell which was really funny. :)

Lots of pains walking a reasonably short distance from the restaurant to the movie theater to the car. By the time we got home I felt like it was 2am. It was only 10:30. Lol

Today we went to the hospital. I had to plead with gabe not to post on facebook "on our way to the hospital" and scare everyone we knew into thinking we were in labor.



We followed all the bright pink "birthing suites" signs all the way up to the third floor and joined the other 6 or so couples. I think I was the farthest along. We got all of our questions answered and then took a walk around the labor and delivery section. After leaving, I felt really good. We'll be well taken care of there. :) a lot of what we had specified on our birth plan was standard practice for them.

Got home and was tired. What else is new these days. When I woke up from my nap we tested out some soothers. Lol!!!



Santos, you have some silly parents! :-)

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9 MONTHS!!!!!!!

How far along? We are NINE MONTHS PREGNANT today. 36 weeks. 28 days till our due date, 7 days until we’re full term. (I really still don’t get why 9 months isn’t full term, but I’m just following what all the guides tell me!)

How big is baby? Still the same fruit. Just heavier. I think he’s a little over 6.5 pounds now. (look how big he is in that drawing!!)

Development: He’s ready………are we?

How huge is mama? So big it’s scary. Holy Mary Mother of God… I gained 6 pounds this week!! LOL that’s awesome. He’s going to come out a 5 pound baby…watch… LOLOL

Movement? LOW…. He still likes to kick my sides though, not so much my ribs now so I’m pretty confident that he’s dropped.

Food? I can eat now. (and apparently, I've been overdoing it this week!!) I have more room. I still have to be careful what I eat though. Tummy is still sensitive. I’m chomping on lots of ice these days, and want soups. (particularly tomato soup from the yard house…)

Belly button? It’s actually getting weird looking… definitely different. I don’t think there’s much left. See?? (Nolte and Shuly painted those turtles for Santos :-) I was showing him, and telling him how much he's already loved!)

Pregnancy symptoms? I’m just really tired lately, and then I’ll have moments where I NEED to do things. Heartburn is in check though so that’s good. Other than that, the usual complaints - hips and pelvic bones are all weird and achy.

Crazy things giving me anxiety? Just that I won’t be able to get everything checked off my to-do list in time. I don’t want to bring the baby home and say “oh crap, I wish we would have done that already”

Labor Signs? Pain in my southern region…. Sharp, stabbing pain. It’s supposed to be dilation and his head against my cervix. Other than that, I believe I’m having contractions. Now, whether they’re Braxton hicks or real ones I have no clue, but they don’t have any regularity to them and aren’t really painful, so I’m not worried.

Milestones? Hello 9 months! We are officially less than a month away from baby, no matter how you slice it.

Looking forward to next? Our hospital tour on Saturday. So many questions. I already packed my bag (well, as much as I could right now) and baby’s things (see his cute little outfit with the shoes from Tia Steph and Tio Flo, and the blanket Nani made him?!). I’m also looking forward to our checkup on Tuesday. It’ll be my first exam to see if we’re dilated and all that fun stuff. Weird part is, it doesn’t matter how dilated you are… I guess you could be completely closed up and then a few hours later in full labor. The body is a crazy, crazy thing.

This is my "holy crap, I'm huge..." face.

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Interesting...

Apparently the pains I've been feeling the past few days are due to my cervix changing (dilating) and the baby lowering himself with his head against my cervix.

They're really sharp stabbing pains that stop me from whatever I'm doing. It says that it can happen anywhere 2-4 weeks before delivery so we're right on schedule. :-)

I knew he dropped! I can actually eat and breathe again!! Lol

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Feelin good!

Yesterday I had my very first appointment ever with a chiropractor. It. Was. Amazing. At one point, I literally told the guy that I loved him. Gabe laughed :-) especially when I sat back up because I was so relaxed. He said my eyes were half open. I go back a few more times before baby gets here.

Then we went to eat, and after we went to babies r us to finish off our registry. We did great there too!



Gabe got a monitor to make sure the baby moves (it's to prevent SIDS) and we got some essentials. :-) thank you all again for the generous gift cards!

So we are ready for baby! (well, purchases wise) the only things left for us to take care of is setting everything up and cleaning.

Tonight, we continue with paining the nursery. I can't wait until it's finished! It's going to be so cute :)

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Beck Graduated from UF!

We couldn't be prouder :-) Congratulations Beckala!! Love you!!!

Happy anniversary

Happy anniversary to granny and grandpa Richko!

Shopping!

Last night we decided to go to target and finish off our registry :-)


See, they know - these mega stores...they know how to get that money!

They sent us a coupon to complete our registry. Anything we bought off our own registry was 10% off. So what did we do? Add things while we were there. Baby needed a new vacuum and a printer. Lol

With all the generous gift cards we received, the completion coupon, and a few other coupons I had been saving, we wound up spending a grand total of $92 for about $350 worth of stuff. Funny part was, $92 was about what the printer and vacuum cost! (both were on mega sale) So we did awesome on the baby stuff!

Gabe even fought with me about a wipe warmer and I gave in. He really seemed to want it and stood in the aisle reading the box for like 10 minutes. As much as I was against what I felt to be a useless waste of $25, I'm not the only parent here and if Gee wants to keep that tiny tushy warm, than who am I to say no? It's actually sweet that he's worried about Santos having a cold booty. :)

We also got our video monitor, a changing pad (one of those big cushy ones that are shaped like a U), and a few smaller things.

Next up, babies r us. They do the same thing with the completion coupon. We'll probably go next week. I just hope we do as well as we did with target!

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35 weeks!

How far along? 35 weeks! 5 weeks (35 days) until our due date, and 14 days till we’re full term!!

How big is baby? Still a large cantaloupe. I guess we’re running out of fruit. He’s the same height, now he’s just packing on the pounds.

Development:
Your baby boy is only two weeks from being considered full-term. Increasing amounts of fat are being stored in the skin, so the tissues of the body, arms, and legs begin to look still plumper. He may not be ready to regulate his temperature yet, though.

The lungs are almost fully developed but still have some time left to completely mature.

The survival rate for babies born at 35 weeks is about 99%; of surviving infants, the rate of serious medical complications is about 8%. Remember that survival and complications rates are highly dependent on the baby’s sex and race as well as the quality of the NICU. Relax.

How huge is mama? Tisk, tisk… I gained 2 pounds again. LOL oh well.

Movement? The other night, Gabe came home from work and decided to say hello to Santos by blowing a raspberry on my tummy. He scared the baby so bad that he jabbed my insides so hard I immediately sat up. I laughed SO hard. Poor baby. He definitely didn’t like that.

Food? Can we say heartburn? I don’t know why, but this week has been especially bad with the heartburn. I took 2 bites of Gabe’s curry last night and immediately felt it. Maybe Santos has lots of hair like his cousins!

Belly button? Still there!

Pregnancy symptoms? My hips, lower back, and pelvic bones are in a state of constant pain lately. At our birthing class, they recommended that if your insurance covered it, it would be a good idea to get aligned by a chiropractor before the birth. It’s supposed to help with him traveling down the birth canal and all that good stuff. If it does, great! But honestly (and selfishly), I just want some relief for right now! I am a bone cracker by nature anyway and have always cracked every bone I could. With the extra tummy, I can’t do it alone anymore. So I’m just looking forward to a good bone cracking. LOL and like I said, it’s covered by our insurance so why not? (yes, I made sure they worked with pregnant women before I made the appointment… Gabe made sure to ask me that a few times lol)

Crazy things giving me anxiety? No more anxiety really… I think I’m ready! But I wouldn’t be me if I didn’t over think… Every time I move I wonder if my water will break, and every time I get a tummy ache I wonder if it’s the beginnings of contractions. (I heard that some women think they’re just coming down with a stomach bug when they’re really in the early stages of labor)

Milestones? I have made appointments to meet pediatricians. That is the most “oh my GOD this is real” moment I’ve had in a while.

Oh and THIS: I’ve been having lots of dreams about our little guy. One where I didn’t see his face, only his tush and it wouldn’t stop pooping no matter how often I wiped - and another where I was in labor, couldn’t reach Gabe, and the baby decided that the best way out would be through my tummy… like the movie Alien… he just pushed his way through my skin. The weird part was that I was completely ok with it and even got excited when his head was sticking out of my abdomen. He came out fine, but with a cone head still, and the nurses took him and I was yelling at them to give him back because I didn’t want them to feed him. (I want to breastfeed asap after the birth, I’m sure that’s where that came from) Yep, and Gabe missed the whole thing! No clue where he was. Better not have been on that xbox!!

Looking forward to next? Snuggling my little monkey when he finally gets here. I’m so excited to meet him it’s insane… one more week and my doctor said they’ll stop trying to keep him in. so if he’s ready, we are!
This weekend we’re going up to Gainesville to visit my little sister Beck! She’s graduating from UF and we couldn’t be prouder of her!! Aside from that, I can’t wait until the nursery is complete and set up the way I picture it in my head. I think by Friday, the painting will pretty much be done. Here are the updated photos from last night:





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Shower Videos!

I decided that the blogger format took way too long to upload so I did them through youtube. Go to the Shower page on our blog and you'll find the videos under the photos! :-) Yay!

Thanks again to everyone!! We had such a good time!

Update on the Nursery!

There are more photos of the progress in the album on the photos page, but here's where we ended:

Froggie by Renee

Tucan standing on a Zebra butt by Gracie

Big tree with an Owl hiding in it by Geepers

Giraffe munchin on some delicious leaves by Renee and Gracie started the Hibiscus flowers

Tonight Nichole and Gracie are coming back to continue working on it. I'm excited! it's looking so cute!!

I'm also trying to get all the videos up from the shower, but they take quite a bit of time to upload, so stay tuned, I'll make a post when they're all finished. :-)

See you tomorrow with another update and our 35th week post!! Holy cow....

Oh my god it's august...

Today, it is officially August and that means we'll have a baby by next month. Next month people!!!

Something tells me he's not waiting for his due date though. We should start a betting pool to see who is closest to when he actually comes. Lol - I place my bet on the last week in august (so in 3 weeks.... Yikes!!!!!)

Anyway, some randomness...

Thursday, I went shopping and bought things I needed to stock the nursery and diaper bag as well as things to bring to the hospital. To give you an idea of just how crazy I am... I bought sunblock for my mijo. I bought baby sunblock because somehow I got it in my head that we could be out and about and he might have my skin and I would want that precious little face protected. I know. I am going to be THAT mom. :-) I just know I burn so stinkin easily and it can be so painful! Imagine that and not understanding it. Nope, I will protect my Santos.


When I got home and checked the mail, we had a package from Eugene Oregon. Gabe's godparents, the Schimmels, sent us this beautiful, handmade verse to put in the nursery. How nice was that!?!? So incredibly sweet. :) our baby will feel loved from all over the states (and Europe!) So awesome.

Friday, a whole bunch of fun things came in that I ordered from amazon. I got a munchkin care cart to put all my new taking care of baby items that I bought the day before. I put it together all by myself and promptly set it up and stocked it. We are now fully ready to change a baby and give him a sponge bath. Yes!

We had our first garage sale yesterday morning...


It was ok. We had a few show up way early while we were still setting up (like 6:30 early!) and a few that were just downright rude! But we got rid of some stuff and made about $70 (after we subtracted the cost of the ad) so I'd call it a win! We tried to do it again today but when we didn't have a single person show by 9:30, we took down the signs and called it a day and I went back to sleep. Lol - gee, of course, went straight to xbox land.

I have to say though, as the days go by, he's getting more excited. He shows it in his own cute ways. He says to me at least once a day "baby's on his way! He's coming soon!" and everything we have for Santos MUST go through major daddy testing and inspection. It's nice :) I feel him getting ready for our baby boy and his excitement is contageous. I'm definitely not as afraid as I thought I'd be right now and I think gee has a lot to do with that. (Love you papi!)

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