"False" Labor

Saturday night in our now predictable style we went out to grab some Chinese for our "last" weekend of just the two of us (this time for real!). For the past month we have been enjoying each weekend as though it is our last which, if you know me and Robbie at all, always involves eating somewhere. We are still in search of good Chinese and Thai food restaurants so we decided to give one in Westlake a try.
While waiting for our food I started to have my first real contractions and by the time we got home they were pretty steady at 10 minutes apart. This scared Rob enough to pack his overnight bag (finally!) and we went to sleep early thinking we may have to run to the hospital sometime Sunday. Sunday morning we woke up to 8 minutes apart, went to church and came home to 6 minutes apart. This is good, right? We went on a walk and had some 4-5 minutes and then got tired of sitting on the couch timing them so we went for yet another walk to enjoy the last really nice weather day for awhile. During the walk contractions sped up to 3-4 minutes and even a few 2 minute ones thrown in. We were getting pretty excited at this point! We went back inside to time them again and they slowed WAY down...back to 6 minutes again. Yet again, we wisely decided to get some sleep in case we had to get up in the middle of the night. I couldn't sleep through the contractions so I went downstairs to lay on the couch and watch TV. Around 2 I decided I would try again to sleep through them since they were still at 6 minutes. When my alarm went off at 6 I jumped out of bed and oriented myself quickly remembering when I went to sleep I was in labor. Apparently not anymore! I made sure the baby was moving, went back to sleep for a few hours and called my OB's office when they opened. The nurse sympathetically told me "it can happen" and assured me it would just help with the induction tomorrow.
Robbie left for work a little bit sad. He said, "I'm just ready to hold her." Aww...how can a wife feel bad about her lack of sleep when you hear him say that? He's just so anxious! He has put together every toy he can find and laid down carpet in her basement play area this weekend (even though she won't use that area for quite some time!!). Soon enough he will hold her and make sure she is ok!
So, tomorrow is the BIG day. 7:30 a.m. we start the induction and hopefully find that my 30 hours of labor was not completely in vain! Can't wait to post a picture of baby Bella being held by her daddy after months, weeks, and hours of waiting!

Nesting, Nesting, Nesting!

With officially less than 2 weeks to go until our due date and the guarantee from our OB that the baby will be here in less than 3 weeks, we are frantically finishing our nesting (and, I’ll admit, a series of other unrelated baby projects that I have been putting off!). On the day of week 38 I got my first stretch mark but my OB said I’m not allowed to complain because she couldn’t find it without a magnifying glass and I have “no idea” what other women go through...my mom’s words of wisdom were more blunt: It doesn’t matter because the second baby will give me more stretch marks than I can count…sigh…thanks mom! I guess there is no sense in deluding myself anyway…

Anyway, on to the nesting part! We have Annabelle’s “nook” completely put together and it is absolutely adorable! I attached some photos below to show the finished product. Those finishing touches made both of us excited for baby’s arrival and Robbie was so great putting it together. We found some remnant carpet for her nursery and had some extra for the living room so she will have a place to lay on her tummy that’s not hardwood or tile. So many people gave us cute little touches for the baby’s nursery and it’s such a happy little place.

We picked a pediatrician and I got to have a meet and greet session with him last week. I really got a good feeling from him and his nurse. He was very thorough spending 30 minutes getting to know me and asking about any concerns I might have. Funny enough, since picking him we have repeatedly found people who take their kids to him and think he is great! I went to a new mother’s support group yesterday and both of the moms there used this pediatrician and (before I knew it was the same one) brought up how great their pediatrician is. That definitely makes us feel pretty good – not bad for a Russian roulette style of picking a name off a sheet of paper! Yikes!

For an update on me: Still feeling great although we do have a nighttime party animal. It’s definitely getting difficult to sleep through her rolling and kicking. Also found out what nerve pain in your back and legs feels like at the end of pregnancy and am not a fan. I am still walking several miles each day though so I’m glad I can push through that pain. My measurements are right on for where I am at in the pregnancy and the baby is still very active during her weekly NST. Our doctor thinks we will go full term and possibly up to a week over but I think she tells everyone that so they don’t get their hopes up. As for me, I’m still ok with her staying put for a few more weeks since I am enjoying the baby free time cramming in projects and socializing. I have met a lot of new moms lately and spent time with the girlfriends I have made here.  Robbie is getting more anxious than I am and gave Bella “permission” to come at any time. He would really love to get the call that I’m in labor. He’s excited to be a daddy and would love for her to come soon since this is an easy month for him at work!

We will take and post another belly photo this week so you all can see how big I am getting. We seem always forget to take them and it’s getting close to the end so we should get on that! Love to you all from the three of us :)

Annabelle's Nursery Nook

Joslyn helped make the pictures to match the bedding and the baby hoot owl is from Auntie Jolie!
Look at the adorable comforter too from Grandma/Mom Tanzer, Shelly, Aunt Marie, and Aunt Alene

Picture frame from my Aunt Bonnie

Calendar is from Nicole and we plan to put some books in the corner there

Here is the crib! The wall art was made by Joslyn :)

Old dresser converted to changing table - fits perfectly!