{38 weeks}

I really do feel like I could POP any day now!

Every day that passes definitely makes me more excited for this little guy to show up. My husbands's excitement makes me happier than anything! He's so ready for Cade to arrive, it's all he talks about. And since he never gets really too emotional about anything, this is sort of a big deal.

Nothing new at the doctor this week.

That's a good thing because Cade is happy and healthy in there.

I'm a full 4 cm now but no other changes. I promptly left there and made a couple of laps around the mall (and only went in a few stores since this was an exercise mission). Between walking and still working full-time I'm hoping he'll come any day now. (Like tonight...full moon!) I've had a head cold this week, which is not fun when you already can't breath. Hopefully that'll be gone before I deliver so I can breathe! Other than not sleeping good and some hip pain, I'm hanging in there.
I am having some contractions (Woop!) but they are not painful or regular. When I have them, it actually just feels like I can breathe easier, but my face gets flushed. If I couldn't actually feel my stomach getting hard, I would think it was Cade just being sweet and removing a body part from my diaphragm temporarily. So now that I know they're contractions, I'm super-paranoid I'll be one of those freaks who doesn't know I'm in labor until I'm 9 cm dilated and it's time to push.

One thing that has changed is my mood swings...(insert sympathy for my poor husband here). I can go from happy to hysterical in about 5 seconds flat these days. And I mean full on alligator-tears-and-hiccups crying. It's so bizarre. Usually nothing even precedes it, something just hits me wrong and there I go...crying like a crazy woman. The husband is so patient though, he just asks if he did something wrong and if I need anything, and then kindly keeps his distance.

If my mood doesn't go from happy to hysterical, it goes from happy to pissed. I have zero patience. Especially for people who ask me too many questions (pregnancy related or not). I don't know why, but it's like after 2 questions something inside me wants to snap. It makes me feel totally claustrophobic. I'm I totally insane? I know it's silly and people are being polite, but I can't control it!

Anyone else experience crazy mood swings in there last month?

I finally (as in, 30 minutes ago) rearranged some kitchen cabinets and made space for bottles! That's something I've been avoiding for a while now. Next house = bigger kitchen.

I'm totally stressed about Cade's coming-home outfit. I have some newborn onesies that shrunk so much when I bought them that I swear they wouldn't fit a baby doll. So when I found what I was looking for on etsy, I ordered a 0-3 months size instead of newborn. I washed and dried it and it still looks huge! Unless my kid weighs a good 9 pounds, he will be swimming in it. Oh well. I guess it's more for picture taking purposes than anything else, so he won't be in it long. He'll just have to deal!

Fingers crossed for a baby this week, we are ready!

{37 weeks} and FULL TERM!!

We made it!

 Baby Cade is officially full-term (and duck season is over) so he can come out whenever he wants now!

Thank Goodness =)

I started my weekly doctor visits this week. Getting checked wasn't as bad as I though it would be (everyone kept telling me how much it hurt). It didn't hurt, it was just...uncomfortable. Anyway, we'll skip the gory details of that. I was fully prepared to be disappointed when I heard my doctor say "Well, you aren't dilated at all."

What I heard was "Well, you're 3-4cm dilated and 60% effaced, baby is at a -2 station." (Google it)

What I really heard was "Well, if you go into labor right now, you can have an epidural!"

Woop!

This news of course elicited much squealing from family members, who were all fairly convinced we were having a baby this weekend.

This was on Thursday, the day my husband was leaving for his last duck hunting trip of the season. He asked multiple times if he should stay, and of course I told him to go. While 3-4 cm sounds great, realistically people can go weeks like that. He's close enough that he can be home in a couple of hours if he needed to be.
That being said, I put myself on couch rest for most of the weekend anyway. I did run errands Friday, but other than that I stayed around the house and went stir crazy. I finally got out today (when husband was an hour away from being home) and walked, which I followed up by eating pineapple (Bromelain anyone?)

I haven't had any contractions. Well...I haven't had anything that I though was a contraction. I've had some cramping at work (remember...13 hour shifts) but that's been the most action I've seen. She said the cramping is probably mild contractions. My ankles are still fat, and the fingertips on my right hand stay numb all the time now. There is no shaking or re-positioning that makes it go away at this point. And besides all that and the fact that Cade is down in my pelvis at this point, meaning he sometimes moves when I walk and I feel like I'm going to pee on myself, all is pretty good in my world.

All of this has really made me look forward to spring. I'm a winter person, because I hate to be hot and I only really appreciate summer for a good month so I can get a tan and then I'm over it. But this year little Cade will be around to take on walks (and shopping trips for new non-maternity clothes) when he's not being kidnapped by his daddy :)

Hospital bags are ready to go! That sheet of paper is the list of last minute items for hubby to grab!

My doctor told me to have my bags packed, but be prepared to wait a few more weeks. Let me just say, knowing I'm 3-4 cm dilated already makes me super-paranoid that my water will break while I'm in the checkout line at Target or in a patient's room at work...

{the nursery}

Hallelujah! Can you hear angels singing??

The nursery is finally D.O.N.E.
Until I find something else to order off etsy.

I spent the last several days sorting through the madness while the husband was out of town. (And therefore not around to ask "why are you putting that there?")

Anyway. It turned out pretty much exactly like I'd envisioned =) Of course, it makes me want to re-do other parts of my house now. I wanted something calm, clean, and simple for Cade's room. I'm not really a "theme" person, so I just stuck with colors and some basic ideas to pull things together. I'll try to list sources for things as I go through.

Furniture from Babies R' Us

Rug from USA Baby

Crib Sheet - Pottery Barn Kids

Crib Blanket - etsy (can no longer find seller)

Pillow Case - Pottery Barn Kids

Bear - Restoration Hardware

Owl - gift

Basket - Target

Wall Letters - Anthropologie

Fisherman Lamp - Pottery Barn Kids

Piggy Bank - gift (but I think this is the one!)

Glider - Wal-Mart

Wall Print - Custom from etsy

Owl - Pier 1 (still in stock last I checked)

Zebra and Raccoon - Carter's

Throw - a little boutique I forgot the name of!

Basket - thrift store find

Night Light - Restoration Hardware

Mirror - Target (no longer available)

Bear - My Thirty One (comes with a blanket inside!)

Basket - The Container Store

Drawer Organizers - The Container Store

Sound Machine - Amazon

It's awfully simple for it to have taken me so long to put together!
The closet door is where I take my picture every week, so I threw that one in there. I also added it because I want to put something between the doors. It looks empty and I have some cute old refurbished frames:

I'd like to hang these vertically between the doors but I don't know what I want in them. I can't find fabric I love (or scrapbook paper for that matter) and I don't want to stick his initials in them since his name is already over the crib. Suggestions?
I'm also considering corner shelves (or wall shelves) in the area between the crib and changing table (over the little rocking chair) but the husband thinks it will look to cluttered. I think he doesn't want to hang anything else on the wall...
And I also found some cute fabric bunting on etsy that I really love and want to use somewhere, but it's 56" long (just the part with flags, plus 1 foot of ribbon on each side). I thought about hanging it over the mirror, but it'll just be too long. Suggestions for that welcome as well.

And what would my house be without Chloe lurking around every time I opened a door?
Apparently changing pads make perfect cat beds.

Let me know if I left anything out! Hope you enjoyed the tour!

{36 weeks}

Black is slimming, and there aren't many things that get me out of sweats these days.

Even though Cade has dropped some and I can breathe a little easier, it doesn't mean I'm not still carrying around 30+ pounds of extra weight, and it's a workout in itself. My back is feeling about the same, and my ankles pretty much just stay swollen now. My right-hand numbness has progressed from a morning occurrence to an all day ordeal. That's right, all day. My doctor told me to take Tylenol arthritis to help with the pain in my hands when I wake up in the morning, but all the fingers on my right hand (except my thumb) are pretty much numb all the time now. Not painful, but definitely annoying. If I shake my hand sometimes the feeling will return for a few minutes, but it quickly goes away. So my morning make-up routine now consists of me looking like  I'm having some kind of weird intermittent tremor...because it's super awkward putting make-up on with your hands when you can't feel one of them!

I've still not had any contractions, but I have had some cramping and that's mostly when I'm overdoing it (like long days at work). I start my weekly doctor appointments this Thursday, and she'll check to see if I'm dilated. The husband was out of town this weekend and next weekend, so baby has been instructed to hang tight until at least January 21st (which so happens to be the husband's birthday), and after that will be full-term and he can come whenever he wants!

The nesting is becoming absurd, because I stay pretty annoyed with my house most of the time. So this weekend has been a 4-day break from work and I finally got some work done on the nursery! I feel better about my life now :)

We go for our hospital tour tomorrow (we're mainly doing this to pre-register so if we get there in a panic most of the paperwork will be done). The backs are semi-packed and waiting patiently in the nursery (this is probably way too early, but it makes me feel better). Now all we'll just twiddle our thumbs until he decides to make an appearance.
I wish.
I'm scheduled at work through February 8th.
Maternity leave should be at least 6 months.
And it should begin in your last month of pregnancy.

{35 weeks}

Ok, I'm a day early. 35 weeks tomorrow if you want to get technical.

I had to throw in an Alabama shirt for the BCS Bowl Monday night =)
We are now officially counting down weeks instead of months!

The doctor visit went well this week, I'm apparently measuring "more normal" now instead of ahead. And I only managed to gain 2.5 pounds over Christmas and New Years. I may or may not have celebrated that with a Hot Fudge milkshake from Sonic on the way home.

 My sleep schedule is totally random. Some nights I'm exhausted and sleep well. Other nights I'm exhausted and stare at the ceiling thinking of things that need to be done. 

My ankles continue to swell, and my hands still go numb every morning. Other than these things and the fact that I now have to take Tylenol arthritis because my hands also hurt (apparently pregnancy can cause arthritic pain...has anyone else experienced this?) I'm doing pretty good. I thank my lucky stars for every morning that I wake up and don't see a stretch mark. They haven't popped up yet. I use Palmers Skin Therapy Oil religiously. I don't know if it's working or I've just been lucky so far, but I put it on twice a day. It at least helps relieve the itching that occurs when your skin stretches this much.

I was sincerely hoping that this would be the week I would post nursery pictures. However, after the adorable baby shower I had today, the nursery now looks like Babies R Us exploded in it again. It's driving me insane, but I probably won't be able to work on it again until Friday or Saturday. Until then I will keep the door closed and act like it doesn't exist.

A few pictures from Cade's tractor-themed shower

Cake pops...yum!

The owl rag quilt Cody's mom made Cade

This is a rocker I received from my husband's grandmother (his mom's mom). This rocker belonged to Cody's mom when she was a girl, and there is a picture of Cody sitting in it as a baby. Cody's dad repainted/refinished it and now it belongs to Cade. How sweet is that?? I was totally impressed that I didn't have a meltdown when they were telling me the history behind it. 

I have lots more clothes to wash now, and many things to sort through and find homes for. One of those being bottles. I don't know where in the hell all these bottles will go in my kitchen. We are limited on cabinet space. And how many bottles do you need? I currently have 9 5 oz bottles and 9 9oz bottles, and I'm trying to decide if I should return/exchange? 

I'm also pretty pumped I got my diaper bag (from my sweet momma) and now I can pack it so it will be ready to go for the hospital! I'm such an organizer. My bag is halfway packed already. The thought of having both of them ready to go, well it just makes me feel better!

Things To Do:

Baby laundry!

Sort through blankets and clothes (and see what extras can be taken to grandparents' houses)

Hang pictures on walls in nursery

Sterilize bottles and pacifiers

Find home for bottles

Finish packing hospital bags

Hopefully my to-do list, cleaning, and my yucky work schedule will keep me distracted from the major depression I'm experiencing from missing my husband's work trip to Florida in March. I know I won't be ready to leave Cade, but it'll be the first rodeo I've missed, and it's in Orlando which will be twice as much fun! I'm so jealous of everyone going, and booking flights and hotels for him isn't helping. However...my mom has promised some retail therapy for post-baby summer clothes that weekend. Shopping always cheers me up!