D-Day Has Arrived

Big Brother cuddles Bounce at 39 weeks preggers

Will Bounce be one of the 5% to arrive on his due date?!  Today is the official due date but so far nothing.  I'm crossing my fingers he comes soon, I'm itching to meet him and so are Daddy and big bro the Rockstar.  This morning our Rockstar asked when his "brudah" is "comin' out" and I assured him it wouldn't be too long from now but a week feels like a lifetime when you're two.

There was some visible movement forward yesterday so here's hoping the next sign will be real contractions. I have an ultrasound booked for next Monday the 10th followed by an OB appointment so if Bounce has not made an appearance by then I suspect I may end up being induced.  Cross your fingers for a D-day delivery!  Come on Baby Bounce we want to hold you in our arms and smell your sweet new baby scent!

39 Weeks!

I am officially finished work!  Yesterday I took a personal day to spend with my man on his birthday and I am off thanks to killer pains in my groin that made it difficult for me to remain upright for more than 30 minutes at a time these past few weeks at work.  The Rockstar has a very rough night on Sunday so it ended up being a family day yesterday with Mommy & Daddy caring for a tired boy with a runny nose.  I am counting today as my first day of quiet before the storm.  The house is totalled, we have not started decorating for Christmas, I have loads of laundry to deal with and I should feel like nesting but instead I am plopped on the couch following a lovely 2 hour nap.  Maybe it's time to start blogging again?!

Bounce could be here any day now! I was at the OB last week and was informed that my "cervix is coming along nicely".  Dr M thinks I'll be dilating this week so the baby could be here any time now.  I'm excited and nervous all rolled up into one. I've been experiencing braxton hicks and Friday night had an hour long false alarm.  I was induced with the Rockstar so I'm not sure what to expect if I go into labour naturally this round... from the little taste on Friday night I suspect a crazy adrenalin high, a lot of OW and a whole lot of pacing is to be expected.   I have a feeling the little man will make an early appearance but I guess only time will tell.

Once again I am strep B positive so if my water breaks on its own I will have to head immediately to the hospital to be hooked up to that damn IV for antibiotics.  I know an IV should be the least of my worries but the number of jabs it took to get that puppy in there with the Rockstar made it one of the worst parts of my birthing experience. Yes, I know, I should be grateful if that was the case!!  Fingers crossed Dr M's predictions of a very quick 2-4 hour labour are accurate and then you can hear me whine about IVs again following Bounce's arrival..  

I am overdue to post belly pics so here they are!  We went for some family photos on the weekend so that we will have some beautiful professional shots of Bounce while he is still in my belly at 38.5 weeks! I'll post a few when I get my paws on them.  I was able to stick around after the shoot and saw the photos: I think they are fabulous!  It's funny, I see my little Rockstar every day but while looking at those photos I realized that suddenly he is more little boy than baby.  I suppose it will be even more obvious once his little brother is on the outside... what a thought!

39 weeks in love!  When will the little guy arrive?  If anyone still looks at my blog please make a prediction!! I'd love to hear your thoughts on when he will show up, how big he will be and what he might look like!!

Belly Chronicles the Second Round

I am certainly not winning an award for keeping up with Belly updates this round.  I was told by a zillion people to be careful what I did with the Rockstar (for memory sake) because I wouldn't do it with number two.  This was advice I mostly listened to and now I'm glad I did because I just don't have the time or energy this round to fill with nesting/memento creating. 

I promise to provide some recent belly chronicle shots but here are a few from the first 20 weeks.

 Straight out of the shower so excuse the nasty looking mop.

 

20 weeks along at the beach with Bounce and Mr Magoo!  I figure now is the time to wear a bikini because god knows if I ever will again.  Hehe!

Belly Pics!

We had belly shots taken a couple weeks ago: I was almost 37 weeks on the day of the shoot. Lorie from Emilly Grayce Photography did a FANTASTIC job, she came to our home and made us completely comfortable during the session. It was fun working with Lorie, we can't wait to see the rest of the photos and look forward to having her take our wee man's newborn photos after he arrives.

Here are a few of the shots she has shared with us so far.



I'll share some more pics once we get our paws on them but if you want to check out a few more pop over HERE.

30 weeks!!

The countdown is on now!! 10 weeks until the estimate date of arrival: YIPPEEEE!!!

It's official: I can't see my feet. Or maybe it has been official for awhile but I've just finally noticed.

I've had this belly ramp effect happening since the beginning and thought it would round out as time went on... apparently I thought wrong. It's kind of like I have an extra bump. I also thought I would gain a booty during pregnancy and that has yet to happen. I'm not complaining, just commenting!


We started our prenatal class this week and watched our first birth video - thankfully it wasn't as horrible as I imagined it would be and Mike said the same thing. Some people seem really surprised when I say I haven't seen a birthing video and I say WHY THE HELL WOULD I WANT TO WATCH A BIRTHING VIDEO JUST FOR KICKS?! Sometimes ignorance is bliss.

There are just two other couples in our class; both are total hippies and seem very sweet. Awkward moment: my lack of ability to hide my true feelings shone through when one of the girls decided to share with us how her friend who lives in the States BBQed part of her placenta "like a steak", made a smoothie out of a chunk of it and then buried the rest under a tree. What the hell?! Needless to say my mouth dropped open, I said something along the lines of "OH MY GOD" (I think it was out loud but it might have been a scream in my head) and then stared at her in utter horror. The second couple kept glancing at each other and smiling and I'm not sure whether they were trying not to laugh at my look of disgust or the story. The girl telling the story then assured us that she was NOT planning on BBQing her placenta. I managed to shut my mouth and stared at the instructor until I regained my composure - I was afraid to look at Mike for fear of bursting into uncontrollable giggles which would have been a) RUDE and b) very immature which of course I am not. hehe. When the baby arrives one of my rules is no dropping in without calling first so if you break the rule and show up without calling I'm liable to insist you stay for lunch... and guess what, I'll be BBQing something special.

I've been spending loads of time researching cloth diapers and I'm excited to have made a decision on how we're going to start this crazy adventure. There are SO many cloth diaper options available and it's all a little overwhelming; we really want to give this a go and I know things are going to be INSANE for the first couple months so we're going to use disposable for the first week or two and then we'll go with Bear Bottoms (a cloth diaper service in our area) for a month (thanks to a gift from my Mom & Dad - THANKS MOM AND DAD). While we're using the diaper service (they use fitted cloth diapers) we'll try out a few other styles/brands and figure out what is going to work best for us.

My hope is that Indian Prefolds from Green Mountain Diapers will work for us but of course we won't know until we try. Indian Prefolds are similar to the old skool cloth diapers but they are quilted to absorb more liquid and come in different sizes so you don't end up with a lot bulk. I've read loads of good reviews about these prefolds so fingers crossed!! I'll place an order for these in a couple weeks.

I spent hours this weekend researching diaper covers and have placed an order for three through Homestead Children's etsy shop; we'll need covers while using the diaper service so even if the prefolds don't work out for us and if we decide to go with All In Ones these covers will be put to good use and then we can sell them. I also found an AWESOME tutorial for cloth diaper covers with gussets that I'm going to try to work with in the not so distant future. If I can make my own covers that would be fabulous!

This post might have some of you yawning: sorry!! I could go on and on and on about cloth diapers because I've been reading about them FOREVER but I'll stop now because I have a baby ramming me in the ribs making it VERY difficult to type and it's time for bed anyways. Good night, everyone!

Welcome to the Third Trimester!

It's a big week! We've hit the third trimester: 26 weeks, Baby!!





I can't believe our little man will be making his way to the outer world in appx 3 months! Time flies!

Update: Week 23

UPDATE: Jess is going in for her C-section on March 4th!! Whoops, I was jumping the gun by saying March 2nd, wishful thinking on my part. :)

I haven't been keeping up on my blogging or writing in my baby journal (sorry Smidge!) so here I am with a quick update.

I've been feeling good the last few days, my back isn't quite as sore as it was previously thanks to a fantabulous new bed and the pillow nest I put together before curling up to sleep at night. I'm pretty sleepy by the end of my work day but I suppose that's to be expected considering I have a little man inside my belly cave sucking up as much energy as he possibly can so that he can grow big and strong.

And yes our little ninja is definitely getting stronger, his kicks have more oomph and are happening more frequently. The other night I was laying in bed after a session of serious karate chops and I decided to lay the cold remote control on my tummy, Smidge hoofed the remote almost instantly and caused it to teeter totter wildly. I can't help but smile and/or let out a little "oh" every time I feel Smidge moving, it's like he's nudging me to remind me that he's in there. I love feeling him wiggling and it's even better when he kicks hard enough for Mike to feel him too. It blows me away at how in love I am with the little man in my belly and it scares me a little to think that this love will be expanded by a zillion when I lay eyes on him.

I had mentioned Jessy and her awful back pain a few posts back and there is now an end in sight for her: March 4th at 2pm Baby Mac will be entering the world via a planned C-section. I CANNOT wait to meet him! Thankfully Jess has found a way to sleep somewhat comfortably so she's getting more than 5 minute chunks of sleep now. Granted she still only passes out for a few hours at a time but like she said, it will make getting up a million times with the baby easier for her since she's had lots of practice.

We had Mike snap a pic of us on the weekend after my birthday dinner, figured we better get a shot of the boys in our bellies before Jess deflates!

I'm 23 weeks and Jess is 38 weeks in this shot. It's funny, I remember when Jess and Colin called to tell us they were pregnant and it doesn't seem like it was that long ago... now it's only a week until their son will be cuddled in their arms! Oh yes and he'll be cuddled in mine too.

On Saturday Mike and I bought paint for the nursery!! The decals we ordered (which I am SUPER excited about) arrived last week and silly me hadn't read the part where it says "Apply ASAP after receiving" until after I had ordered them. Oops. I was assured that we would be safe to wait a few weeks if need be but we decided to go ahead and paint sooner than later.

I'm going to save pictures of the finished produce until we have the decals up but here is a sneak peek of Daddy covering up the hideous paint that was on the walls in the nursery. Yep, he painted with the broken foot and all. I suggested that he let me take care of the rolling (edging was my job) and he said "No, I'm painting my baby's room." Such a good daddy!

I will tell you that we chose a beautiful pale blue for the walls and we are crazy happy with the result - I was a bit worried that it was too light when we first started painting but once it dried it ended up being the exact colour I had imagined Smidge's room to be.

I promise to post more soon!

Our Boy at 22 Weeks

Our little guy is kicking up a storm. He's definitely part ninja.

Quickly expanding
Nearly too big for my winter coat!

Dying to meet the little wiggler.

20 Weeks

A boy!! A son!! OUR son! We're so excited!

Belly Chronicles - 17 weeks and counting!

This is definitely my new fav photo. :)



Quickly expanding!

Bigger...

Self-explanatory!


I've popped again! We're now taking photos bi-weekly instead of weekly so the next pictures you'll see I'll be four months along. Woo hoo!

11 Weeks Pregnant!

Jessy and I didn't make it to the pool to swim last weekend so she hasn't seen me in two weeks. When I slipped off my clothes and stood chatting with her in my swimsuit she turned to look at me and her mouth dropped open: "Oh my God! You didn't look like that when I saw you last!"
I have definitely popped, I swear my boobs grew an additional size this week and my tummy is definitely bigger than it was last week.

When you compare these pics to last weeks I think you can tell there's a bit of a bigger bulge but the fact that my boobs have grown make it a little difficult to tell that the tummy has grown. Mike sweetly pointed out that my belly is bigger than my boobs now.

I love being pregnant!

10 Weeks Pregnant!

Mike decided weekly shots would be better than monthly and who am I to argue with a man who wants pictures of his wife and baby?! :)

Here I am with my tiny belly that has begun to protrude.

Funny how when you're pregnant you want to stand in such a way that shows off every bump while normally the goal is to hide those bulges.

Crazy!

Loving Every Moment

I am 11 weeks pregnant now! Tonight is the night we are more or less "going public", we are telling our close friends who don't know yet while mom and dad share the news with the Dougherty clan at the annual siblings Christmas party. They are going to call me before they tell the family so that I can tell Grandma that she is not just expecting one GreatGrandbaby in the new year (my cousin Kris and Shannon's little nut) but two! This will make 13 great-grandbabies for her assuming I'm counting right. Tomorrow we will make some more calls and in another week we'll really spread the news. We go for our first ultra-sound on Friday which we are super excited about! I can't wait to see Smidge!

I'm feeling really really good. Still experiencing a little nausea but just in the morning, I'm a little less tired than I was before and my appetite has increased big time. I'm definitely showing now but still haven't had a significant weight gain, maybe a pound or two but I'm still in my regular 5 pound zone - albeit the higher end of that zone.

I don't remember ever feeling this healthy, then again Jessy had a good point last night when we were comparing feelings of pregnancy fabulousness: no drinking, eating well and lots of sleep might have a little something to do with the healthy feelings we are experiencing. Ha!

I felt Jessy's baby boy kick last night, such a cool feeling! I can't wait to feel Smidge moving around in my tummy.

Mike has starting taking weekly photos of me and Smidge so I think I'll begin posting them here rather than emailing them to my girls. Every Saturday a couple shots will be posted and if you click on the link to the Belly Chronicles you'll see all of the photos in a row making it easier to compare.

I'm off to go shopping for a new shirt to wear out tonight, one in which I can proudly display my tiny protruding tummy. xoxo