Category Archives: Kids

38 Week Zombie

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I’m 38 weeks today and have officially hit the “ready for this to be over” stage. I can’t even begin to complain about how I feel, because I have had a much easier third trimester than many, but I hope these next two weeks go by quickly.

Out of no where this week I started having to get up about four times a night to use the restroom. Before that it was only once, so I’m thinking it has to do with Lila moving lower and putting pressure on my bladder. Couple that with a mind racing with thoughts of labor & delivery, maternity leave wrap up, Thanksgiving and Christmas plans, and sleep has become a mystery to me.

I’m still working full time, which up until this week was a great distraction. Now though, I find myself asking my colleagues to repeat themselves 2-3 times before my mind actually comprehends what they’re saying (which I’m sure they love!). And my back is usually in a tight knot from sitting all day by 1pm. My coworkers are all being wonderful though- one donated a ball from his office for me to sit on and we have a “what if my water breaks at work” plan in place.

My plan is to continue to work until either I go into labor or my doctor decides I need to stop. I really want my full three months with Lila, so the thought of wasting any of it before she comes doesn’t sit right with me.

November is already an incredibly busy month in my life – the ski season starts, Luke’s birthday, Thanksgiving, my nieces’ first birthday – but I’ve realized this week that I have to just do what I can and then give over control to other people to help. My priority has to be preparing my body, mind and home for this little girl’s arrival.

Luckily we are incredibly blessed to have the support of so many. My sister is “on call” to come from San Francisco whenever I go into Labor. Luke’s brother lives in town, so we can rely on him as well. My parents are coming for Thanksgiving and my mom will stay three weeks to be my right hand with baby-care and recovery. Then Luke’s family is coming for Christmas AND his mom is coming again in February for two weeks when I first go back to work.

On top of that many of our friends in-town have already offered to make us meals and help however they can once Lila is born.

Like I said, we’re so blessed.

I’m trying not to dwell too much on the labor and delivery ahead of me. I have been listening to some birth affirmations and reminding myself that if my body can grow a human with no help from me, it knows how to birth that human too.

We met with our doctor yesterday to go over our birth plan – basically to have as easy and healthy a delivery as possible without any unnecessary medical interventions. She was fully supportive of our plan, which is great. She also confirmed that she has no concerns about me being over-due based on Lila’s position and how effaced I am. Yeah!

So, in an effort to enjoy these last two weeks as best I can, tonight I plan to NOT cook dinner. We’ll order Thai. I’ll take a bath. Maybe read. Do some prenatal stretching. And most certainly will be going to bed no later than 9pm.

Lila’s Finished Nursery – Woodland Themed Nursery

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Yesterday I officially hit the 37 week mark, which means my Lila girl is “full-term!” It also means I snapped into must-get-everything-done mode. We installed the carseat, packed hospital bags, finished our birth plan and finally completed her nursery.

If you remember, we decided on a Woodland themed nursery. Mainly because THIS is the view our little girl will have outside her nursery:

To start with, I really wanted to create a tree in her room. But since we are renting (no painting) and the walls are grooved (no decals), we had to get creative. I had an idea to use those paper poms you see as party decoration. Thankfully my incredibly talented sister in law, Emily, visited us this fall and took charge of my vision to make this awesome tree.

She did it by cutting poster board in the shape of the trunk and branches, then glued fabric around the board. Then she hung the poms from clear string to create a 3D tree. I also have to give a major shout out to Lexi from the Etsy shop LadiesWhoLunchPoms for being so helpful in designing the poms with me so they looked just like tree leaves. In total, this tree cost us just $60 and makes a huge impact in the room!

Next, I filled the room with some key pieces of furniture. After doing a lot of research on cribs, I realized that I really didn’t want to spend a fortune. We landed on this crib and changing table from Ikea, which believe it or not was rated very highly on consumer reports for safety. I love the simple, natural wood look without the ornate design.

We spent more on the rocker/lounger from La-Z-Boy. Both my sister and brother got this same chair for their nursery’s and raved about how comfortable it is. It lays all the way flat, rocks and comes in tons of cool fabrics.

To bring through the woodland theme, I got some custom bedding made from the Etsy shop HappyMae. This was more of a splurge, but well worth it. The crib sheet, changing pad cover and crib skirt are so unique and vibrant. They also came pre-washed and in super-soft fabrics.

The other custom order I made was the letters for her name from Etsy shop TheRuggedPearl. I couldn’t be happier with how they turned out and the little critters that were added go perfectly! We made these girlie letters a little more “woodsy” by hanging them from a branch we found on a hike near our house.

We rounded out the woodland look with a bunch of fun accessories including these woodland prints from Etsy shop MyZoetrope, an “We love you Deerly” embroidered hoop from Etsy shop RedRedCompletelyRed, family photos and a beautiful honeycomb art print my talented collegauge Margo gave me as a baby shower present!

The last piece to the nursery still to come is a special woodland mobile being hand-made by Grandma Batman – Luke’s mom. She saw my blog post about wanting this mobile off Etsy and volunteered to make us one by hand. I can’t wait to add this special touch to the room.

 

This was the first room I’ve ever attempted to do any type of decorating on – we’ve always rented furnished apartments, so I am feeling really happy with how it turned out. I need to take my good camera (all these were taken with my phone) into the room and get some wide-angle photos to show it all together.

I am so excited to spend lots of time in this room with my girl. I hope she loves it as much as I do!

One Month Until D-Day

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Today marks exactly one month until my due date – Nov. 22. It seems surreal to think that my pregnancy is almost over and pretty soon there will be another human living in our house, fully reliant upon us to provide, protect and care for her.

This weekend we spent quite a bit of time preparing for life with a new baby. On Saturday we completed our “labor test run” drive down to our hospital in Carson City … about a 45 minute drive from our house. As we made our way along the two-lane highway that hugs the edge of Lake Tahoe, I was thinking a few things:

A) I really hope it’s not snowing a blizzard when we are going to the hospital

B) if I am having contractions every five minutes (as many women are when they are hospital-bound) I will have about nine contractions in the car (EEP!) and

C) having this baby IN the car is not an option

We arrived at the hospital and after going through pre-registration, went up to labor & deliver to get a tour. One of the nurses took us around the L&D floor and I was amazed at how chill it was up there. So quiet. Dim lights. Laughter in the halls.

Each mom gets her own new room with a tub, shower, bed for her husband, TV, WIFI and fridge. Plus some pretty great mountain views out the big windows.

They do everything in one room – labor, deliver and care for the baby. There is no crowded nursery your baby is sent to for their post-birth checks. It’s all done right next to your bedside. I also really appreciated that the nurse went out of her way to tell me they are big advocates for immediate skin-to-skin contact and breastfeeding. I was worried about Lila getting whisked away for unnecessary cleanings and measuring before I could really bond with her.

Walking out of the hospital, I felt at peace and not fearful at all. The facilities were relaxed. The nurses were sweet. And my doctor is incredibly supportive and nurturing. All elements are lined up for us to have the birth we want.

Later that day, after feeling like we had the labor & delivery prep down, I started thinking about what we needed to know once we bring Lila home. Thankfully I’ll have my sister and/or my mom in town depending on when she arrives to help guide us. But still, I really have no clue what goes into caring for a newborn.

So, I parked myself on the couch and watched video after video on YouTube regarding “Infant Care.” I found this baby series from “How Cast” to be pretty good. It covered the basics like swaddling, picking up a newborn, calming a crying baby, bathing and feeding. Basically though I realized it’s a lot of common sense and mommy intuition.

As the sun got lower in the sky that day, I went downstairs and sat in Lila’s nursery to have some quiet time rocking in the chair we have there, re-folding some blankets and thinking about how much our lives are about to change. It’s overwhelming at times to think about the things we’ll be giving up: freedom to come and go as we please, time to spend doing hobbies (like blogging) and the ability to live our lives solely for ourselves.

But truthfully, I am happy to let our current life go if it means getting to experience everything that comes with motherhood. From what I hear, pretty soon after adding a baby to the mix, you can’t even remember (or want to remember) what life was like before they arrived.

And so, the final countdown to baby girl’s arrival begins!

A Living Record

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People ask me sometimes why I decided to blog. Motives to blog are different for everyone. Some do it to build their personal brands in the hopes they get famous & rich. Some do it so they can get sent free stuff by brands. Some do it because they are terrific writers and want to use the blog as a way to eventually write a book.

For me though, it’s simply about having a living record of my life. It’s a way for me to journal my thoughts and feelings so one day I (and my family) can look back and know exactly how I felt during each time of my life. I do it publicly on a blog because without the element of having readers, I doubt I would keep up with it. I also generally love to tell stories and share my experiences with other people.

That being said, I was thinking last night that I haven’t been keeping as good of a record of my thoughts during this very special time as I’d like. So here are some things I want to get down on paper so I remember them in the future:

– People keep asking me if I’m scared to become a mom. I don’t really feel any fear though. I think I’ve just always wanted to be a mother and if anything, I feel like finally I’m going to get to experience what I’ve always dreamed about.

– The one thing I am afraid of with becoming a mom though is loneliness. Isn’t that weird? I’m adding a person into my life and yet I’m worried about feeling lonely. I think it’s more about having this beautiful thing to celebrate, but being far away from the people in my life I want to share it with most.

– I’m not sure if this is hormones, or a normal thing mothers feel, but the other night I was daydreaming before bed about holding Lila in her rocker when she’s a newborn. She was so small and warm. Then I immediately burst into tears because I realized that she would only be that small for such a short time and that moment would be gone. (I’m tearing up now as I type this).

– I’m worried about the amount I am worrying about things. Will I always worry like this?

– I feel an intense amount of pressure to get everything in my life just right. My job, my family, my house, my friends, my health. Maybe it’s because I don’t want anything to distract me from my new role as a mom. Or maybe it’s that I want everything to be perfect for Lila.

– I think I am one of those women who loves being pregnant after-all  I am so proud of my body. I feel beautiful, healthy, vibrant and almost goddess-like (is that a weird way to describe it?).

– I have an overwhelming sense that my life is falling into place exactly as it should. That everything I did up until this point was designed to get here … and that I knew it all along. Where I went to college, where I lived after school, my career, my choice in a husband, my faith, somehow was all designed to bring me to this point.

– I really, really, really want to be a good mom.

Thanks for letting me share my life with you.