9 months!!

lots of news to fill you in on!

went to the doctor today. everything is going well with little miss ava marie. she's about 5lbs right now (doc said she'll gain a pound and a half to a pound every week until she's born). she's in head down position, but her head is resting on top of my pelvic bone instead of settling inside the socket. she should come to be in place before labor sets in. i'm a little under 1cm dilated, and already a good 75% effaced. which is good, but doesnt really do anything to speed things up. one thing the doc said that we need to keep an eye on is how narrow the birth canal is. she said we're going to try natural, but if there seems to be complications then we're going to probably have to look towards a c section :0( . i'm scared of that. so i'm going to try my best to push that little girl out of there! haha. other than that, everything is good. heartbeat is strong (as are her kicks and elbow drops). i should know when she settles into position because i'll be able to breath... hallelujah! we have an appt every week from now until her bday! so i'll have tons of updates for you every week now. :0)

we had our last child birth class last night. this one was pretty much a review of the baby basics class. how to swaddle, take care of the cord, the diaper changes, nursing, all that good stuff. she also threw in normal newborn appearances. and a lot of those things, i had no idea where normal. like rashes and bumps and stuff like that. good to know. also, some babies are cross eyed when they come out. the lady said it's mostly because the bridge of their nose isnt high enough yet, so really they're looking at themselves. we found that kind of funny.

no more classes, just doctor appointments and lots of waiting to do. i already have my hospital bag ready, ava's bag is all ready, carseat is a go... feel like the house could be cleaner, but we all know what it's like living with a man. i'm going to have to send him to mommy cleaning bootcamp along with ava when it's time.

andrew volunteered for the range next week. (when people go out for target practice). it's pretty far out there in the desert, so i told him he better get me a number for the office and i have a back-up daddy ready in case she decides to come early. haha. just for the drive to the hospital, of course, i dont think she'd come without her real dad there. he'll only be out there until around 1-2 everyday, then he's off. so it wont be bad at all. plus i have a feeling i have a couple more weeks in me. buuuut ya never really know with a baby.

think that's about it for now. not as long as i thought. hopefully not much longer before she gets here, i know everyone else is just as excited as i am to see her! :0)

it's getting hotter!!

i'm 35 weeks and it's up to 115-118 degrees out here. needless to say, i'm a little miserable during the day. everything is going well other than that, though. gotta be thankful for mine and ava's health, right? gallons of water do the trick!

so today was our third child birth class. we got a lot of good info on epidurals. my "doctor" actually isnt a doctor, she's a midwife. i'm hopeing she's on duty when i go into labor. that way she can help me with tricks on how to do without the epi. they let you get in the shower or tub during labor to help ease some of the pain. if i have to get anything, it's not going to be narcotics. i'm deathly afraid of those drugs. guess we'll see though. i dont have a "birth plan" i just kind of want to go with the flow. who know's how labor will really go anyways. gotta have an open mind.

we also got a tour of the labor and delivery unit. the rooms are amazing. the nurse that was in there was absolutely hilarious. i hope he's there whenever i go in. he knew exactly how far along i was just by looking at me! he knows his stuff! "see you in a month" he said. crazy!

we had an amazing time in temecula last weekend. we only planned on staying the day saturday and going back that night. buuut we were tired and ended up staying the night. i didnt get much sleep at all between babies crying, hank barking, letting him in, getting him to lay down, and stay down, ava kicking. i was a wreck the next day! i definitely am NOT ready for the whole sleeping two hours a night thing. but i guess you never really are ready for that. tough, but gotta do it.

we saw ice age 3 in 3d while we were there. i loved it!! i recommend the 3d! andy and i kept our glasses so we'll send them to you if you want to go :0) . also, we got ava's crib!! i have a shipment of things coming in on thursday (maybe even tomorrow if i'm lucky), and some pictures from the family, and we'll all set! i cant believe we have everything we need for her. now all we really have to do is wait. waiting is never fun. not even when you're prego. even though, the longer she stays in there, the better. for her. apparently she's about 5lbs, 18 inches. (according to the average studies). we'll find out for sure how big she is next wednesday. i'm so excited! havent seen her since i was 6 months! seems like forever ago!

wellll... i dont think there's anything else going on. so i'll have to catch you guys up next wednesday after my appointment! :0) i'm off to watch rescue me, eat some cereal, and hopefully sleep for hours! <3

hah-hee-whoooooo

hahaha, we went to our second out of four child birthing classes. we had to take pillows in... obviously for breathing exercises. it was pretty interesting. i cant say that it's helpful yet, because of course, i havent given birth yet. but it looks like it's something that can really work. basically the pain isnt going to go anywhere, but if i can focus on something else until that contraction goes back down, i think i'll be ok. and i really think i can do it. one of the things were for andy to just touch my face, shoulders, arms, hands, neck... and as he touches those parts, i was supposed to focus on completely relaxing that part... it was wonderful. basically i got a massage the whole class... and i wanted to fall asleep. andy actually did fall asleep at one point. hahah. cant blame him though, it was very relaxing.

next class there will be a speaker coming in... an anesthesiologist. and we get to ask him/her all kinds of questions about epidurals and all those good drugs (that i really want to try NOT to use). after he/she is done, we get to take a tour of the labor and delivery. i've already seen the rooms. they're reaaaaaaally nice! we get to keep her in the room with us at all times, there's no nursery. also, they have the system where they'll put a band on mine and andy's arm, and her's... and if anyone else that doesnt have one of those on tries to walk out of the hospital with her, the whole base will shut down and it would be everyone looking for her. that's pretty neat. makes me feel good.

i ordered stuff from target yesterday. i got her curtains for her bedroom (since it gets ridiculously bright and hot in there due to the cheap blinds they have up in there). i got some bassinet sheets (only had one... not good), a changing pad (her changing station is on her dresser... it's the perfect width and height... no need to buy one), and that's it for now. we'll be getting her crib from our friends this weekend. and hopefully soon i can get her some stuff to hang on the walls. i'm doing all black and white for her room. kind of a vintage feel. i was going to put up pictures of audrey hepburn, judy garland, sophia loren, all the women in the classic movies... but looking at the prices online... we might just have to stick to just black and white pictures of flowers and stuff.... maybe grandma will even take some black and white pictures for her nursey for us?????? :0)

i went to walmart today. i have everything i need right now for the hospital if for whatever reason she decides to come early... i'm ready! i just want to share with everyone that i went in there with a set amount... $50. and everything (after coupons) came out to $48. i'm pretty sure that's a world record for walmart shoppers... i'm very proud of myself.

wellll... ava's 34 weeks and 3 days today. next doc visit is in two weeks. then after that i should be going in weekly for them to check me and make sure i'm not dilating. apparently you can dilate up to 3cm before you even get contractions... though they follow shortly. but still, i told mama sandie i would try to wait so that she can get her first week of school in :0) ... but we should probably be telling ava that, not me. she already has a mind of her own.

we'll keep ya posted!

baby classes!

so on wednesday we started our "child birth" class! this class will be every tuesday for the month of july. the first class was mostly about the stages of labor... how everyone goes through the same stages... just not in the same length of time. poor andy had to watch a birth in the first class... he actually did really well. next class we have to take pillows... so i'm guessing we're doing the "lamaze" thing. hahaha. that should be fun.

yesterday we had our "baby basic's" class. this class was all about how to care for the baby afterwards: changing diapers, cord care, parenting (talking about things as a couple, like discipline), annd he got to see some more births. haha. they showed natural, c section, forcepts, and some alien woman who had her baby in like, 5 minutes... by the time the doc got there, the shoulders were out. i was like, really? who is this lady?! this class was from 8am-4pm... so you can imagine how ready andy was to get out of there.

i feel bad that all these classes happened to end up in the same month. he's getting a little overwhelmed, i think. cant blame him. he's doing well though, and i know even without the classes he'd be fine. i just WANT to go to classes. even if everything they tell me goes out the window when i go into labor, it just makes me feel less anxious right now.

andrew had **3** cigarettes yesterday!!!!!!! (and trust me, there were many times i expected him to smoke during this baby class... one lady gave him a hard time. but he didnt!!) i'm really proud of him! he's trying to take better care of himself. i told him if the meds work for him, then we're going to get daddy frank on them! :0) he's a grandpa now... he's gotta be here another 40 years! haha.

i'll be 34 weeks on sunday! our next appt is on the 29th and it's coming up fast!! i keep telling andrew i NEED to get some things for myself for the hospital before that appt. after 37 weeks, she can come at any time and be term. he doesnt understand why i cant "just wait"... he doesnt realize that ava's not going to "just wait" until i have everything ready to go... she's coming when she wants to. haha. probably just a guy thing, so i try not to take that to heart.

it's 6:30 in the am. i have to go pick up my friend at 6:45 and take her all the way to LA (she's going to see her cousin in up state cali) and then drive all the way back today. 6 hour drive... and i'm hopeing my butt doesnt fall off. haha. hurts to sit too long now-a-days with a little girl pressing down (or up on my ribs for that matter!). buuut i'm sure i'll be fine. just hope i'm home before andy gets off of work. they usually get off early on fridays. i cant believe it's the weekend already!!!


well you guys, i'll keep you updated! gotta run!

8 weeks to go!

so we're all moved in... finally!! i absolutely love the new house. everything has a place, fits perfectly. the only thing i really have left to do is hang pictures up and get the rest of ava's stuff. i need to get her a dresser and a crib. all the other things can wait. i cant believe how quickly time is going by these last weeks. it's good and bad. good because i cant wait to hold her and see her, bad because i feel like we need more time to get things ready. even if i had everything in the world for a baby, i probably would still feel the same way, though.

i had a 32 week check up tuesday. same thing i always do, get weighed, check blood pressure, measure the tummy, and listen to her little heartbeat. doc says the test results for gestational diabetes and anemia couldn't have been more perfect... that made me feel good. i dont know how i passed considering i cheat real bad on the caffinee drinks (shhhh!!). it's really hard when what you crave is sweet tea! i cant help it! haha. the doctor also said that because everything is going so well for me, i didnt need to come back until four weeks which is when they bring out the ultrasound machine and check her position... making sure she's head down and ready to go within the following four weeks. so i'm glad everything is going well, but i wish i could hear that little heartbeat more often... cant have it all, i reckon.

so far i've only gained about 22lbs. apparently (according to the internet), i'm supposed to gain around a pound a week from now until she gets here. that's awesome. just when i thought i couldnt possibly stretch anymore. haha. if she's 4lbs now, that means she'll be 8lbs if she's on time.... that's a big girl. i dont know if i'm ready for that. haha. i say i'm nervous about labor, but i'm really actually excited. andrew and i start the child birth classes next week (along with the day long baby basics class which includes daddy boot camp... cant wait to see that!!). we have them every wednesday night for the month of july. so i'm hopeing we get a lot out of it. i know andy will be a good coach, i'm not worried about him. i just cant wait to be able to breath again! :0)

well.. i'll have more news soon. i think i'll be driving down to target soon to get some more baby things with our gift cards. try to get something going in the nursery to show you all! until then...