My 1st Shower

So I'm finally getting to the blog about my first baby shower.

Last Sunday afternoon, Dain's aunts Patty & Peggy, and his cousin Jessica hosted a shower for me. It was at 2:00 p.m. at Patty's beautiful home in Batavia. Patty's house always looks fantastic, and the decoration and detail put into the shower were amazing. Here's an shot of the beautiful table they had set...
The guests arrived - including many of Dain's relatives and my mom, sister & niece. We played a fun game with diaper pins, making people avoid saying the word "baby" - and then got set to open the gifts. I was truly showered - getting so many things we registered for! In addition, they planned to have everyone bring a book for a library for Boogie - as they know of my love of books. Here's some of the gift opening...



After I received all the wonderful gifts - we had cake and treats. We went back to the living room and played a word unscramble game - and Dain arrived to help load the gifts (and make us all feel stupid by simply glancing at the page and knowing the answer to a word scramble that none of us could figure out!). Dain's mom got him a few gifts - including a dude diaper bag, dinosaur toys for Boogie, and his old favorite childhood toy "bear" wrapped up with a new companion "Frog" which was apparently destroyed at some point.

Here's the whole group of us. It was a great day. Thank you so much to all for the amazing gifts. I am so grateful to have each of you in my life.

3rd of the Day - RANT

So YES this is my 3rd post of the day...and I'm going to RANT.

Yeah - we've determined that I have a big belly - but not really TOO TOO big. I mean, I only measured a few centimeters over normal for the # of weeks that I'm at (30)...but I'm SHORT and so there's no place for it to go but OUT.

Okay - I know all of you - mostly. It's fine for you to make comments to me. I mean - don't be like this guy at my office who when one day I was standing at profile to him at the fax machine and he just said out of nowhere "MAN you're huge." Seriously sir? We're not friends...are you incapable of inner dialogue?

So today I'm walking back down the hall to head to the ladies room, and this woman comes out of another office at the end of the hall and says "You're not having the baby now are you?" To which I want to say "Yes, I'm going to the bathroom stall to self-deliver, because these are the most sterile rooms I've encountered in a long time." - but instead I suck it up and smile and say "Nope, not for a while, anyway."
She then says "Are you having twins?" and I once again stifle myself and say "Nope, just one in there." (Even though I had a freak out earlier this week because my doctor's office accidentally scheduled that ultrasound as a multi-gestational, and that means multiple baby, so I thought they were trying to tell me something - but it was human error).
Does the woman stop there? NOPE. She then says "Oh...well...WOW you're really BIG!" Yep. That's what she decided would be appropriate. I just turned the key to the bathroom and walked in without another word.

If you're reading this and we're friends/family - I don't mind if you make a crack at my size...don't feel like that's the moral. Heck, I'm usually pointing the jokes at myself anyway. HOWEVER - this is just a good life lesson for everyone. If you see a pregnant woman you don't know and she looks like she's pilfering a beach ball - just smile. Save your comments. Tell a friends later about the huge freakshow maternal giant you saw...but don't comment to her. She just wants to go to the freaking bathroom for the 80th time that day in peace.

Shedding Some Light

So - Boogie will need a light in his room.

I had an old IKEA wall-mount lamp on the wall in that room the whole time it was a "guest room" but Dain hated it - and we took the thing down. During the painting process - we brought in the lamp from the office/new guest room - but since it's hard to have a room with no source of light - we need to move that back.

SO - I went looking for a new lamp for Boogie's room. A floor lamp that will light most of the room - then we'll add a little night light lamp (see my internet registry for that) on top of the dresser.

LOOK what I found at target.com for $20! It will provide plenty of light in that little room and go perfect with the colors and white baseboards! I'm ordering it today. How fun!

Just wanted to share...next post will be about my fantastic 1st baby shower I had on Sunday...pics will be included for those who've been waiting!

WHOA!

Is anyone else weirded out that the Boogie Counter over on the right says 66 days left?!?!

I'm a Big Girl

I had another doctor appointment yesterday...I have to go every 2 weeks now that I'm getting close to Boogie time!

Everything looked good according the doctor and the nurse. I had low blood pressure and Boogie had a relaxed heartbeat, so it appears he and I were having a low-key day. I got weighed in, which is always a traumatic experience, but apparently I'm still right on target with my weight gain...so that's something.

Then, the doctor measured my stomach - as they do at every appointment. He sat back down and went over everything on my chart, and said that my stomach was measuring a little big this time (DUH!) and so I get to have another ultrasound to check the size of Boogie to see if he's getting too big. Joy and rapture. I told the doctor I was almost a 10 pound baby, and he nodded and said the baby's size can be relative to the mother's size at birth (not necessarily the father, though Dain was no small fry either).

Here's what babycenter.com says about measuring "large for dates" - which is the reason I'm going in:
What does it mean if I'm "measuring large for dates"?
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Measuring large for dates means your fundal height is more than 2 centimeters larger than average for your stage of pregnancy, based on your due date. Your practitioner will probably schedule an ultrasound to find out why. Among the possible explanations are:

• Your due date is off. (The ultrasound can help your practitioner figure out your correct due date.)
• You have looser abdominal muscles than most women as a result of an earlier pregnancy.
• You have uterine fibroids.
• You're carrying twins or more. (WHAT?!?!?)
• You have too much amniotic fluid.
• Your baby is positioned high above your pelvis, which might be the case with a breech baby or if you have a placenta previa.
• You have a bigger-than-normal baby because of gestational diabetes. This condition is known as macrosomia. You may need to be tested to rule it out.
Or you might simply be carrying a big, perfectly healthy baby.
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So, before my next appointment (in two weeks) I go in for another ultrasound. This thrills my mother, who will be coming along to catch a glimpse of Boogs before he makes his way into the world...

Childbirth Education

Last Tuesday marked Class #1 of the 4 part series that we are taking called "Childbirth Education" at Delnor (the hospital where Boogie will make his debut).

This class is offered to everyone who will deliver at Delnor (for a fee of course), but is not required.

We walked in last Tuesday not really knowing what to expect (my mind immediately went to one of my favorite people of all time, Bill Cosby and his discussions of their natural childbirth classes).

We were seated in a half circle with about 8 other couples around a screen and a labor & delivery nurse who was going to be our instructor. We were told (via powerpoint of course) that we would be learning about what to expect in early labor, relaxation techniques, touring the hospital, learning about pain relief, and watching VIDEOS over the next 4 sessions. Of course, the videos weren't supposed to start until week 2 - - but that was not necessarily the case.

I had seen a vaginal birth and a c-section video in high school - in Child Development class. Dain, however, had not. We were to be watching a "Stages of Labor" video that night - but it was just going to "lead up" to the birth but not go there yet. We watched women breathing through contractions and getting backrubs and doing squats and walks to help them cope. We saw what the baby was doing during all those stages, and how he makes that glorious trip down the birth canal. And then it happened....a STARK NAKED woman lying on the delivery table pushing out her child - which we watched for the duration. WHAT? Why was she naked? That was my concern. Dain's was different... We walked out of class for the break, and Dain literally apologized to me for how Boogie has to get out of me. I'm hoping to milk that for the next 2 months until I have to be that woman in the video - - though there's no way in hell that I'm giving birth in my birthday suit.

Promised Pictures

HOORAY! Here's some pictures I promised:

Here's my adorable crib. It looks so great now that it's all assembled and with the dresser as a set. It was such a shocker to have it put together. Dain and I sat in the room totally weirded out after the crib was assembled and put into place. It was finally real. I mean - yeah - I have a huge belly, I feel Boogie moving all the time, we've registered at both the places you see above, and we've prepared all kinds of ideas and budgets. However - something changes when you see a crib in your house! Total mind-blown moment.
Here it is: Next to come are the skirt and bumper pad, and the bedding. Of course - it's not time to put that on yet!

Another photo I promised...the mobile status. I had SO much fun creating the "dangles" for the mobile. I had no plans or patterns...just bought textured and plain felts, cotton balls, two colors of ribbon, and two colors of thread. Here they are... Sadly - if you can't tell what they are - there's a peace sign, a dinosaur, a star, a football and a tree. Some of these things will be mimicked in the paintings on the wall. Hope you love them as much as I do. I know you can't see the ribbons and threadwork that well - but I'll take close-ups when it's complete! (Though you can click on the picture for an extreme close up of this shot).