Week Thirty-Eight!

Latest Doctor Visit: Unfortunately did not go the way I wanted. First of all, my patience at this point is non-existent (in case it wasn't obvious if you've been around me). Well, after waiting for almost two hours in the waiting room (with a TON of annoying people) I was *finally* called back into a room... that was burning up. After another hour of waiting and not seeing the doctor, I finally got fed up and went outside to see what the hold up was. Turns out, she was next door at the hospital delivering a baby. Pretty legit excuse, but it still pissed me off that we weren't told that in the beginning (normally, when this happens we're told to go grab lunch and come back). So after being one of "those" patients and making a bit of a fuss, the lovely mid-wife came in (who I really do love and have learned a lot from). She examined me and proclaimed me to be 75% effaced and a whopping total of ONE cm dilated. Yeah. As in ONE. As in ONLY FREAKING ONE, "but a loose one"! She also said River's head is at a -2 Station and her heartbeat is 135 (which is lower then what it has been, but she assured me it's fine).

 So, it's all progress, just not as much as I hoped for. I think the main thing that I need to do is stay positive and relax and realize that River will get here wen she gets here. My big concern with going over-due is her size since she's been measuring big, but since all of that is questionable anyway I should probably just chill the heck out.

Super funny story though: while the mid-wife was talking to us about natural induction (walking, sex, nipple stimulation), my grandmothers eyes got very big. When we got in the car, she asked me if she heard right that sex was now used to induce labor. So awkward, but hilarious! Turns out, back in the day when she had my mom they were explicitly told NOT to have sex during late pregnancy! It's so bizarre to think of how much we know now about childbirth compared to just 50 years ago.

Guesstimates on Due Date:
MamaB: March 4th Sorry Great-MamaB! She said she wasn't feeling my birthday after all!
Zack/Hubs/Soon to be Dad: March 12th
Nola (River's Cousin): March 13th (Because it's Friday the 13th)
Patricia (friend/ co-worker): March 14th
Ashley (River's "Aunt"): March 15th
Me and My Mom (River's Mawmaw): March 16th (original due date and my own dad's birthday)
Nanny (River's Great-Grandmother): March 20th

How I'm Feeling: I feel like a kid,sitting in the backseat of a car on the longest road trip of my life, and continuously asking everyone "Are we there yet?!" And every time I get told "No", I just want to have a melt down.

On the one hand, I am SO, SO excited that my due date is right around the corner and that I am *this* close to meeting our daughter. It still seems surreal that she's almost here where I can hold her and cuddle with her and love on her.

On the other hand, I am super impatient and the longer I wait, the more these small doubts and freak-outs creep into my mind about the whole labor and delivery process. Which is weird, because up until a few weeks ago, I was pretty calm about the whole thing. I'm still confident in myself and I know I got this, but the more the days drag out, the more this evil little voice inside my head tries to convince me that maybe I shouldn't be so confident. That maybe something might go wrong. This is probably pretty normal for every new mom out there, and the main thing I'm trying to do right now is just to stay away from scary internet articles and stories. Also, hubs totally helps by snuggling with me when my freak-outs get too bad.

Then you add in the lovely discomforts of third-trimester pregnancy and it just equals out to one pyscho me. I don't think I have ever appreciated my own mom more then I do now. You just have no idea what your mothers go through during pregnancy until you actually experience it. I will say this though, for all my complaining and whining, it's not as bad as a lot of the movies portray it to be. It's amazing and wonderful.... and yes, super uncomfortable and nerve-wrecking, but it's absolutely nothing you can't handle.

Movement: Right now, it feels like River's whole body is taking up my entire torso. She moves her head and arms, and I can feel it low in my pelvis. She has the hiccups and my whole belly jumps. She kicks and it feels like she's taking out my sternum. Still, I have never been so grateful for those weird, sometimes painful, movements. It's the only thing that really reassures me that she's okay.

Random Updates: Last week I gave my boss notice that I am fairly certain March 17th is going to be my last day at work before the baby comes (unless I get super lucky and she comes before- come on River!). I still may change my mind about this depending on how I feel, but right now it's just taking everything out of me to walk around. And, it would be nice to have my last real down time for myself before River gets here- because I know that once she's here it's going to be a LONG time before that happens again.

Baby Book: My sweet mom, River's Mawmaw (as she wants to be called), got us a baby book! I've been wanting one forever now, but for some reason just never got around to buying one. It's pretty simple and standard, but I love it. Zack and I spent Saturday morning filling some of it out together, which was super fun. I wanted to make sure he wrote it in as well, since I absolutely cherish my own baby book because my dad wrote it and I have so few things that are his. I then stuffed it into our hospital bag so we can get River's foot prints and hand prints in it when she's born (hopefully they won't mind doing this).

Week Thirty-Seven!

Latest Doctor Visit: River's doing great, heartbeat is 149 and I'm dilated one cm! Not much, but hey, I'll take it! Other than that, everything is moving forward fine.

Guesstimates on Due Date:
Me: March 16th
Zack: March 12th
Nola (River's cousin): March 13th
MamaB (River's Great-Grandmother): March 4th (aka my birthday and today... she still has sometime, but I don't think that's going to happen lol).

How I'm Feeling: Exhausted. Sore. Irritable. Excited. You name it and I have probably felt that emotion this week. Mainly though I'm just getting impatient for River's arrival. I'm also dealing with false labor pains, which really suck, by the way. I've been trying to clean my house like crazy, and every time I get somewhere on it I have intense pains in my abdomen and hips. Definitely not fun, and some last long enough for a mini-freak out, but thankfully I have a great Hubs who is there to calm down and talk me through it.

Unwanted Advice Rant: Okay, so I'm just gonna say it. Ladies... if we're not family or friends that speak and see each other on a regular basis, then chances are, I don't want your baby/ labor advice (unless of course, I specifically ask for it). Seriously, I always thought this was just one of those things that people blew out of proportion, but it's not! I can not even begin to tell you the amount of times someone has tried to talk to me like I have no idea what I'll be doing in a few weeks when River arrives. I didn't go into this blind. River was planned which means I made sure that I was confident enough in myself to handle this.

Now, after all that, I know that I'm a *little* hormonal, and that a lot of this advice is coming from a good place... but how many times did you (as a new mother) want to punch someone in the face for giving you unwanted advice? A lot right? And this isn't really directed towards the people with good hearts who are just trying to be sweet (well, not all of it anyway). But for the love of all that is holy, if you feel like you need to give advice, think twice. Make sure it's something relevant and not something I've probably been told a hundred times. A good example of great advice: "Do you guys have a Rock-N-Play? Because those things are a life saver!" An example of "bad" advice that makes me want to shank you: "Don't be one of those moms that are obsessed with germ-x, she has to be exposed to germs at some point!"  See the difference?

Movement: Hiccups! Hiccups! Hiccups! And since River is so big now, when she does decide to kick or move around it can get pretty painful... like she's taking out a rib or two.

Special Gifts for River this Week: My sweet aunt and uncle (and their adorable little trio of girls) had River made this beautiful (and oh so soft) monogrammed blanket.

Cravings: Mostly water these days. I'm not really having any specific cravings anymore, mainly because I'm not staying as hungry as I was. In fact, I feel more nausea coming back then anything.

Surprises: Last week the lovely ladies that I work with threw me a work shower! I had no idea and was thrilled with all the decorations, cake, and presents!

"The Return" by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Series: Titan #1
Genre: New Adult Paranormal Romance
Format: Kindle
Publication: February 16, 2015 by Spencer Hill Press
Cover Rating: 5/5 Stars

From Goodreads: The Fates are cackling their bony asses off... 

It's been a year since Seth made the deal with the gods that pledged his life to them. And so far, the jobs they've given him have been violent and bloody--which is kind of all right with him. But now Apollo has something else in mind for Seth. He's got to play protector while keeping his hands and fingers off, and for someone who really has a problem with restraint, this new assignment might be the most challenging yet. 

Josie has no idea what this crazy hot guy's deal might be, but it's a good bet that his arrival means the new life she started after leaving home is about to be thrown into an Olympian-sized blender turned up to puree. Either Josie is going insane or a nightmare straight out of ancient myth is gunning for her. 

But it might be the unlikely attraction simmering between her and the golden-eyed, secret-keeping Seth that may prove to be the most dangerous thing of all. 

Because history has once again been flipped to repeat.


My Thoughts: First of all I just want to say that I *love* JLA. She's an awesome writer and I will gladly devour anything she writes. I was also crazy in love with Seth while reading The Covenant series. So, believe me when I tell you that I can't believe I'm about to say what I'm about to say.

I wasn't crazy about The Return. I actually got bored with it. Now here's the thing, I'm pretty sure my pregnancy is messing with my reading personality, so I have no problem saying that you can take this review with a grain of salt, because if I wasn't pregnant, I might would have been raving about it. As it is though, I just didn't like it.

Here's my issues. This is definitely beyond a doubt, a New Adult book, which would be fine, except it has heavy emphasis on the sexy time and less chemistry between the main characters. It felt fluffy, with none of the fun plot The Covenant series possessed. I'll be honest and say that J.Lynn is not my favorite New Adult author, but she writes amazing YA books. I feel like she focuses too much on the smexy romance in her NA, and less on the story behind it. The same goes for this book unfortunately. I honestly think I would have loved it had she cut back on the forced romance and just gave us the same roller-coaster twists and turns as her other YA plots have.

My Rating: 2.5 Stars

Week Thirty-Six.

Latest Doctor Visit: We had another ultrasound to check on River's growth, and she is weighing a whopping 8 pounds and six ounces! IF we go by measurements that puts me a 39 weeks and changed my due date to March 1st... this Sunday. However, the doctor says we are still keeping the due date for March 24, but that she probably will come early. As of right now, I'm not dilated at all, but I am 50% effaced. My doctor also tried to reassure me (in a somewhat strange way) that I had a great pelvis and should be fine to deliver a big baby if that's what she happens to be. I'm not gonna lie, it totally made me feel better because I had been freaking out a little over birthing my little Frost Giant. Who knew someone complimenting your pelvis could make you feel better, but pregnancy is weird so whatever.

Recent Shopping Trip: Zack and I went on what is hopefully the last big shopping spree before chunky monkey gets here. We bought her a super cute Polar Bear humidifier, a breastfeeding cover (which I'm still debating on if I'll use or not), and some outfits to carry with us to the hospital. Not to mention the oh so cute hot pink ruffle bottoms :)

Hospital Bag: Hubs and I both had a bit of a long weekend and decided it was time to start packing up our hospital bag. Since they're guessing River is going to be a bit of a big baby, I decided to pack more outfits then what I originally had planned (newborn sizes and then some slightly bigger 0-3 months sizes just in case). Along with that we have her cute owl Boppy, swaddlers, and pacifier. I'm also packing my breast pump just in case.

How I'm Feeling: You remember a few weeks ago when I was all "Yeah, I've been so lucky because I've had a great pregnancy so far!"...well, I'm not taking that back (it *has* been a good pregnancy), but my goodness I'm done with this third trimester and ready for our little River to be here. Sleep at this point is non-existence between restless leg syndrome and cramps- and for the love of all that is holy please do not tell me how I better enjoy my sleep now unless you want to be throat punched.

Speaking of throat punching... since I'm pretty uncomfortable I haven't exactly been Miss Sunshine lately, but I'm trying really hard not to go all Exorcist on everyone. And then there's the crying and the worrying over something going wrong in delivery. Basically, I'm something of a *small* mess, but I have a great husband who's been getting me through it.

Most Researched Topic this Week: This kind of goes along with me being an emotional mess. This week, I decided to research two serious topics just so I could be prepared: C-Sections and SIDS. After a solid week of hearing me worry and tear up, hubs finally put his foot down and threatened to cancel the internet if I didn't stop freaking myself out. On the positive side though, the research on C-Sections did help me not to be so terrified of the possibility. Every experience I read on it didn't sound too horrible and having a better knowledge of what to expect if that happens made me feel more confident with it. Of course, I'm still hoping to go the other route, but if it happens it happens.

Movement: While River doesn't kick as much as she did in the second trimester, she's still in their moving around like crazy. It's not unusual these days to see my belly jump or to see her little body across it. She also gets the hiccups a lot too. This is definitely going to be one thing I will miss about being pregnant. I love getting to feel her move around and knowing that she's okay.

Missing:Wine. Seafood. And Sleep. Seriously, as soon as I get done breastfeeding I will be going out to buy a big bottle of red wine. You really don't realize what your mom all gave up for you until you think about the fact that she went without alcohol for over a year. 

Cravings: Chicken.

Most Coveted Baby Item of the Week: River. Seriously, at this point there's nothing I want more then to go into labor and hold her.

Week Thirty-Five (Technically. I guess).

Latest Doctor Visit: Today's visit went by fairly quick with just the basic measuring and listening to River's heartbeat (156). Everything is still going good, but I did express my concerns (okay, freak outs) over River being a Frost Giant. The conversation went something like this:

Doctor: "How are you doing?"
Me: "Good.. you know, just freaking out that I'm going to have the 14 pound baby."
Doctor: "You've been on the internet, haven't you?"
Me: "Maybe."

Then she did a whole bunch of reassuring that River was fine, I was fine, and 14 pound babies were not normal, or something that will happen when under prenatal care. We did schedule another ultrasound for Monday just to check on growth, but she stressed that I should not have a meltdown if River is measuring big. She told me (once again) that the US are notorious for being off in the third trimester.

Nursery Update: Nursery is *finally* finished! Zack and I spent the entire weekend getting her room together, and it was so worth the exhaustion. I absolutely love it, although I will probably add more furniture later as it looks a little bare right now, despite all the goodies she has already.

Baby Shower: I seriously think we had the most awesome baby shower ever. SO MANY PEOPLE SHOWED UP! We had a cake to feed 70, and almost all of it was eaten except for a few pieces (which I then took home and ate). We're so blessed to have such an amazing family! We also pretty much received almost everything we needed, and no doubles of anything! We had so many presents to open, that I actually felt exhausted halfway through and was so glad I had decided to have the Hubs there to help me out. It made the whole experience so much more memorable listening to his explanation of the gifts- "And it's a... frilly, shirt thingy!"

How I'm Feeling: Honestly, I'm getting miserable. I waddle. I constantly have an elbow or knee digging into me from the inside. I pee ALL THE TIME. I can't sleep because I'm so stiff from having to lay on one side or another. I'm too exhausted to clean the house which really needs to be done. Oh, and the restless leg syndrome paired with the leg cramps has been really fantastic. Basically, I'm ready to go into labor and have her today. 

Cravings: Milk. Milk. Milk.

Most Coveted Baby Item of the Week: I honestly can't think of one thing right now that we need and haven't got. From now on, I'll just be stocking up on basic baby goods, like diapers, wipes, and baby wash.

January 2015 Wrap Up

Book Updates:

Challenges:

Goodreads Challenge: 

Seven out of Twenty-Five Books Read

Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: 

1. A Book Written by Someone Under the Age of 25: Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

2. A YA Novel- Sweet Evil by Wendy Higgins
3. A Book that is a Retelling of a Classic Story- "Masque of the Red Death" by Bethany Griffin

Favorite Book of the Month:
"Ignite Me" by Tahereh Mafi- Such a good series, but this is by far the best book in the trilogy! I'm so sad that I waited so long to read it!

River Updates:

*Nursery is painted and floored, and will hopefully be finished by next week.
*One hospital stay for only two hours for blood pressure.
*Lots of baby movement. My belly is constantly moving and jumping.
*Last ultra-sound showed River at 6 lbs- but they're notorious for being wrong.
*She is now in position with head down and facing toward my back.
*Doctor visits are weekly.

Week Thirty-Two... OR Thirty-Six!

Major Update: So, baby River gave her daddy and me a huge scare Wednesday! We had what was supposed to be our last ultra-sound, when we found out she was measuring FOUR WEEKS AHEAD OF SCHEDULE! Weighing in at a whopping six pounds already, they also told us that she is in position and is going to be very tall (thanks to the freakishly tall hubs on this one). However, my doctor tried to reassure me by telling me that ultrasounds are notorious for being off a pound or two, so who knows. On top of all of this, my blood pressure sky rocketed to 159/96. They then admitted me to the hospital to be monitored. I'm not going to lie, I was terrified. Not only for me, but for River as well. I thought I was pretty prepared for the whole hospital stay... turns out not so much. It's just scary when you're doctor tells you that you have to go in and everything is out of your hands. But I'm lucky, I only spent about two hours in there watching Supernatural and laughing with my amazing husband (seriously, this guy deserves a trophy for best husband/ dad), mom, and MamaB when it promptly went down and back to normal. I'm pretty sure this was just an abnormal incident from unnecessary stress that had been thrown my way and not something I really need to be worried about. Also, my doctor appointments will now be moved to every week instead of every two weeks, and I am supposed to be keeping a close eye on the BP when I can. Hopefully she'll be able to tell me more about what's going on with River and her due date when I go back next week since they were mainly just concerned this time with my BP.

How I'm Feeling: Good... a little bit freaked out that River maybe making her entrance early, because there's still *so* much to do, but I'm trying to stay calm! As long as she's healthy though, I'm good! I think the biggest things I need to do at this point is to go ahead and get our hospital bags ready, and stock up on some stuff here, but I was hoping I could at least hold off on the stocking up of diapers until *after* the baby shower.

My blood pressure has also been fluctuating since Wednesday, but I'm trying my best to keep it down and just relax. I think once I get the nursery completely finished, I may stop freaking out. Maybe.

Cravings: Burgers and Shakes!

Bottom Line: From my understanding RIGHT now, River can basically come at any time from now until the end of February to her due date in March (although it's highly unlikely that she will wait that long, or that my body will be able to carry her for that long if she continues to grow so fast... seriously, Momma can't cart a 14 pound baby, my bladder just couldn't handle it).

Most Coveted Baby Item of the Week:
Diapers. Wipes. And Baby Meds!