The night before the big day... with nursery & belly pictures :)

Well, we're finally here! Baby Kree (still without a name) will make her debut tomorrow via c section at 10am due to being breech. A lot of people gave me advice on how to get her to flip, but after seeing the 1994 birthing video, I am OK with a scheduled c section! Of course a lot of people have opinions about them, but I've learned that people have opinions about EVERYTHING to do with pregnancy and babies, and that will likely continue into parenting, so just to go with what I think is right :).

It is so crazy to think that she will be here tomorrow. I feel like I've been pregnant forever and only for a few days all at the same time. I've had a pretty easy pregnancy overall - no throwing up, no major complications, not a ton of pain outside what is to be expected with being uncomfortable. Now I'm just nervous that she will be healthy tomorrow - I will feel much better once I see her! The hospital called me today to remind me of my c-section - good thing, or else I may have forgotten ;).

I thought this would be a good post to post pictures of her completed nursery (will add her name above her crib once she has one!) and my growing belly pictures to date, with the last one being taken today. We'll start with the nursey! We decided not to do an overall "theme", but more of a color scheme. I really like the way it turned out!

View from the doorway

 Name to be added above crib once determined :)

 Crib - didn't go with a "theme" for decor, more colors - this little pottery barn mobile was the splurge of the decor. I need to get into the mobile business.

 I've been doing some shopping :) 0-6 months in closet and dresser!

 Love this chair. Lots of time to be spent here.

 My favorite decoration in her room is this little plaque that I found at hobby lobby. Love it!

And now for the belly picture progression... I skipped a few weeks, bug you get the gist :)

It's go time!

Third trimester, Christmas vacation, another hospital trip and a paint job!

I'm already slacking on this blog and she isn't even born yet! I just haven't had a ton to update on. I'm officially 4 weeks into the third trimester, 32 weeks as of yesterday and BIG! When the stores tell you "this will last all 9 months" when you buy something, they are lying. Feeling pretty good overall still, feeling her more regularly (finally)! I have an anterior placenta which is no big deal but means there is another layer between her and my skin, so you feel less movement. Have our last 4 week appointment this Wednesday and after that, every 2 weeks! We also start our classes this month - I've been putting those off. I get super squirmish/nauseous with medical things, so I'm already nervous about the dreaded "videos" they show you in class number 1.

We did make another hospital visit last week, which turned out to be a waste of 5 hours. Was having cramping and was super nauseous, so went in (knew to avoid the ER this time and go straight to the women's center, which was nice). Turned out to be Braxton Hicks contractions, and a lottt of waiting around. Oh well, now I know what they feel like anyway!

Just wrapping up Christmas vacation around here. Didn't get everything on my to do list done, but did get the bedroom painted, which I'm so glad is done! We still need curtains but other than that it's pretty much good to go! Dad came over to help me with the first coat, and then Scott did the second coat on New Years Day and I did touch ups :). It's a little brighter than I was expecting but still good. Pink would have been good to (with a different color rug of course) but we wanted to do gender neutral so we wouldn't have to re-do it! Here is the nursey progress so far, with the paint color:  (and before it, a thrilled picture of Scott working hard).

And here are a few other pictures from Christmas festivities:

I don't know if it's because it's 2014 or because I'm past 30 weeks, but all of a sudden, I feel like she's going to be here SO SOON. Some days I wish time would speed up but most days I wish I could hit the pause button! I still feel like there's a ton I don't know, like there is some "having a baby" secret class that everyone else went to but I haven't found yet! What kind of bottles are best? How many different outfits do I need at each size? What brand diapers? Are bumpers really that dangerous? How do I choose a pediatrician? What do I use to clean baby things safely? How the HECK does breastfeeding (and beyond that, pumping) work? When do I go to the hospital? What do I take to the hospital?

I guess we'll figure it out as we go along because she'll be here in less than 2 months, ready or not!

4 dressers, an ER visit and ultrasound pics!

We've made it to the 24 week mark. Most main organs are done forming with the baby (and anatomy scan 4 weeks ago says everything that is supposed to be there is there!) and now she is packing on the pounds.. which apparently means I am too! I gained 6 pounds in the past 4 weeks. The baby has gained less than one. No fair. My early maternity clothes are officially too small, and there is no more question out in public whether people feel comfortable asking me about the pregnancy!

Speaking of which - what's up with that? Why, when you're pregnant, do people all of a sudden lose their normal social norms and filters? It seems that people always either a) want to comment on your body (I know how I look, and don't feel great about it, so we don't need to have a conversation about it) or b) want to tell your their gruesome terrible detailed stories from when they had their babies. I have been pretty self conscious about the weight gain and size lately, so when somebody asked if I was SURE I wasn't having twins, after telling me about her blood transfusion and lack of epidural success, I questioned her sanity and wished I had a good response for her that would keep her from offending any other unsuspecting pregnant women out there. I am still trying to think of a good response for when people rude/unwelcome comments. In my head I know they aren't trying to be mean, but still, NOT COOL PEOPLE.

In other news, the furniture is finally (almost) done in the baby's room! After 4 attempts, we finally got a good dresser (the first three were damaged upon arrival). We picked up the glider and ottoman, but unfortunately the ottoman was a different color than the chair, so back that went this week! Should arrive next week - but at least they gave us 20% off for the trouble. I'm all about saving money! Scott now officially wants nothing to do with Babies R Us and is on the Buy Buy Baby bandwagon. Here is a pic of the room with furniture in it - now we need paint, curtains, and decorations and we're all set!

Things seem to be progressing pretty well. I'm feeling pretty good overall, haven't been sick, and have even started to feel her move in the past few weeks. First it was pretty low, now it's getting more up by my belly button :). Very cool feeling. Not strong enough for Scott to feel, but hopefully he will get to feel her soon. We did have one ER visit a few weeks back though - I was having pretty bad cramping, and of course when you google "cramping while pregnant" you get very scary search results, so in we went. Luckily ER doesn't want anything to do with pregnant people (and I didn't want to be around those germs), so they sent us right up to labor & delivery where everything checked out fine. Turns out I was semi-dehydrated, and I found out that I'm supposed to be drinking a GALLON of water a day. Oops! Definitely haven't been doing that. They were super nice, and I had my first experience of having my cervix checked.. yikes!

We went back this past Friday for our 24 week visit and got a surprise 3D ultrasound. I keep going back and forth between it being incredibly cool but also incredibly weird to see the baby that clearly. Here are the ultrasound pics up until now, with the creepy/cool 3D ones toward the bottom.

 6 weeks

12 weeks 

16 weeks - "pretty sure it's a girl!"

20 weeks - hands in her mouth - confirmed it's a girl!

24 weeks - profile and 3D pictures  

These pictures are just so crazy to look at! Because I had a small bleed earlier in pregnancy and now have some fluid they're keeping an eye on, I get to have ultrasounds every 4 weeks, which is my favorite part of going to these appointments! Next up is the gestational diabetes test that I've been dreading (12 hour test followed by 3 blood draws and having to drink that awful tasting sugary/goopy gross drink). Moving right along! 

And to leave you, here is her Halloween costume for next year which I got for a STEAL after Halloween. How cute is this?!

Being Catholic & Furniture shopping.

So, Scott was born and raised Catholic and attends church regularly. I haven't attended church much since moving out of my parents house, but went regularly as a kid. We agreed a while ago that church is a good environment for kids, and that once we had a family, the kids would be raised Catholic and we would go to church.

I haven't gone with him at all since we've been married, but knowing that this baby will be here in 19 weeks and figuring I should start making an appearance before we ask where to sign up for her baptism, decided today would be a good day to start going. I'll be honest, I have no idea what is going on in catholic masses as they are pretty different from the Methodist services that I am used to. I felt like a bit of an imposter and underdressed in my sub par maternity clothes (these Grand Blanc catholics are fancy!). But, I went, and Scott told me more than once how happy he was that I went with him, so I suppose I'll keep going. But the shared communion cup freaks me out and I don't think I can get down with that. Also, what's up with no cushions on the pews? I've apparently been spoiled with cushioned pews. But, hard pews and germs aside, I'm hoping that since we have no friends in the area yet, we can meet new people (there are a lot of young families at this particular church).

After church, I asked Scott if he wanted to go to Art Van to look at furniture for the baby's room that I had seen online earlier this week. I told him it wouldn't take too long (he had a lot of yard work to do and we are running out of nice days). But, then, 4 hours later, we were home with a dresser, night stand, and chair/ottoman ordered and poor Scott only had about 2 hours of daylight for yard work.

I am STRUGGLING with colors/decor for the nursery, but we ended up with a gray chair, so we now need to incorporate gray somehow. We were lucky enough to get a free barely used crib from a friend who had two kids under 2 (yikes) and therefore had to buy a second crib. It's white, so we were looking for white furniture. Here's the what we ended up with:

So, I'm glad the furniture is set. Furniture shopping, while fun in theory, never ends up really being fun and somehow takes your entire day even if you know what you want when you walk in. Also, when talking to the lady at Babies R Us (where we got the chair), I told her I had a lot of time to decide since the baby isn't due until March. She then proceeded a high pressure pitch into why I should register there and TODAY because "March is right around the corner." Which stressed me out. March is NOT right around the corner, lady, and registering is way too much on on top of furniture shopping day. I had aspirations of trying a new recipe tonight, but we ate taco bell for dinner and called it good.

Now we have to choose a rug and paint color. We're getting there...

21 weeks in...

I decided that now, at 21 weeks, and things already starting to be forgotten from when I first found out I was pregnant in June, that I should probably start writing things down. Also, I'm going crazy making decisions and as great as he is, Scott isn't always much input into baby info (blind leading the blind around Buy Buy baby). So, maybe I'll even get some tips on here!

Up until now
I found out that I was pregnant on Thursday, June 20th. I had been off of birth control about 3 weeks, and only took a pregnancy test because it was my sister's wedding weekend and I thought I should check before I drank that weekend. I was shocked when it came out positive. I bought the cheap rite aid brand test, so blamed that and took another one later. Yup, still positive! I always thought I'd tell my husband in a cute way (a la Becky and Uncle Jesse on Full House where she makes him miniature food) but I was too in shock to pinterest something cute and instead, stumbled into our bedroom where Scott was still sleeping and mumbled "umm..it's positive." He smiled, said something along the lines of "that's cool" and rolled over to sleep some more. So then of course I called my mom and told her, and my sister, and the doctor's office. I told them I needed a pregnancy test because I had had a positive one at home. They said "well, if it's positive at home, you're pregnant - you don't need to come in." Apparently they are only wrong sometimes if they're negative. I politely insisted on a blood test and they were nice enough to oblige. I must have looked pretty nervous because the lady who drew my blood gave me a hug when she left. So, fast forward 24 hours, got the confirmation!

The funny thing is, the other two bridesmaids in that wedding were pregnant too, so my sister had three pregnant bridesmaids. I drank diet coke all weekend (before I learned that diet pop is a pregnant no no), thinking all eyes would be on Erin and not me, but of course we got asked from multiple people at the wedding WHY ARE YOU DRINKING POP? ARE YOU PREGNANT?! Ah well, I've never been very secretive.

Erin and her 3 pregnant bridesmaids

Wedding Party

Aren't they cute? 

Fast forward about 17 weeks, two OB-GYN offices, two (failed and headache producing) attempts at registering, two baby books read, about 13 pounds gained (depending on how honest I'm being with what I weighed before I was pregnant), a few hundred of dollars spent on semi-ugly maternity clothes (because that's all that is out there and you can't go naked), one crib put together and TOO MANY baby clothes purchased, here we are at 21 weeks, just past the half way point and starting a blog!

My goal is to be honest with my cluelessness as we venture into this crazy world of babies and parenting, and to have an outlet and a documentation for the changes happening in our lives. And then once she is here, to share pictures and memories with our friends and family and to have something to look back on on the harder days when I may need a smile :). Enjoy!