round 2 // 40 weeks

Time to go have a baby!

[We took these the morning we headed to the hospital for my c-section,

on my due date, at 40 weeks.]

round 2 // nursery for Natalie

If you follow this blog of mine, you know that we've been trying to get the room that our baby girl will occupy (at least for a little while) ready by adding some upper cabinets in an attempt to further organize all our office/craft stuff and still have room for a tiny newborn.

Success!

And this is what her part of the room looks like...

The valances on the 2 windows match the bedding, though you can't see that well due to the abundant daylight streaming in when I took these photos.  I made the curtains that are on the wall behind her crib (so excited when I found that fabric at Jo-Ann's -- AND it was on sale!), and Deacon made the canvas with her name on it.  The girl that watches him for me for part of the week taped off Natalie's name on the canvas and then Deacon went to town painting the canvas.  Kristen also wrote a sweet little note to Natalie on the back of the canvas about how her big brother made this for her.  Fills this mama's heart so full!

We have a changing station over to the left on the end of one of our countertops, but other than that, Natalie's pretty much just using this space to sleep.  :)  The plan is to eventually move the kids in together in Deacon's room.  

After she's sleeping through the night, of course.  :)

We pretty much have everything ready for her -- we have the pack & play set up in our room for her brief stay there.  We have her car seat installed in the van (Deacon think's it's cool, right now anyway, that he'll get to sit beside Natalie in the car :).  We have all her clothes washed and the ones she'll wear home from the hospital picked out.  We have diapers and wipes (though we probably need some more newborn size if she's gonna be a little thing like they say she will).

And just an update on "things"...

Natalie has not as of yet started the show, if you know what I mean, so we are scheduled for a c-section next Wednesday, which is my actual due date.  If I go into labor myself, of course, that will change.  That's my prayer at this point because I would still like an opportunity to attempt a VBAC, but they won't allow me to go past 40 weeks due to her small size, and my age and blood pressure, which isn't bad but I've had a couple of higher readings that makes them nervous.  :)  

I'm okay with all of this even though I have my preferences and wish I could be a normal expecting mama that they would let go a little longer just to see if I go into labor on my own.  It is what it is and I fully trust God's sovereignty and timing.  He knows how all of this will go down.

Will update you on things as I have the opportunity.  It won't be long before we get to meet baby girl!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Kisses from Natalie!

[38 weeks]

round 2 // game on!

At my 37 week ultrasound yesterday, I found out that baby girl has turned head down!

This is news that I have been waiting to hear!  Deacon never did turn -- was breech the whole time -- so we ended up scheduling a c-section with him.  And I was fine with that.

This go-round, I had been hoping that I might be able to try a VBAC and that was only going to be a possibility if Natalie turned head down so here we are.  

That option is now on the table.

While I may not be thinking in the midst of labor and delivery that this was something I should've been hoping for, I believe I will be grateful to have had this experience on the other side of it, when I'm holding my baby girl.  :)

And speaking of her...

[flashing gang signs] 

[she's a tarheel! {sorry, daddy!}]

round 2 // 36 weeks

Another bump update for you...

It seems like forever since I've had to take photos of my belly, and yet, we're another 4 weeks down, which leaves only 4 more weeks til this baby girl will be making some kind of commotion in our house!

The good news is things are coming along quite nicely in the room that Natalie will be sleeping in (at least until she sleeps through the night and can room with her big brother).  My wonderful husband picked up cabinets to outfit the room so I was able to reorganize and get rid of lots of stuff, and make room for the crib and the few little miscellaneous items we'll use in there for Natalie.

Somehow I'm cramming all her clothes, extra diapers, etc. in Deacon's closet and dresser in his room, so the only thing we'll need in the craft room/office is the crib, changing pad, diapering supplies, a hamper and the diaper champ.  We have all that figured out, space-wise, so that makes this mama feel much better.

And the craft room/office looks AWESOME!  I'll be posting about that on my house blog soon.

So I'm up to weekly ultrasounds and weekly NSTs (twice-weekly testing, they call it).  They're keeping a close eye on me and baby girl for the duration.  She's doing great, and I think I am, too, so we just get to enjoy more photos of her...[these are from last week at 35 weeks]

potty training...

So potty training...

Hardest thing we've done to date in our parenting career.

[LOTS of big boy undies, juice & treats]

I was pretty stressed about doing this which is the reason I think I put it off so long.  Well, I didn't even KNOW what stressed was!  The stressful part is after you get into it and have to take one day, one moment at a time.

And there is NO consistency whatsoever.

We have good days and bad, good 1/2 days and bad.  But overall, if I'm honest, I think he's pretty normal, doing most of what all of our friends kids have done in their potty training experience.  We've been doing this for a week now and the accidents have been been minimal, really.

[diapers in the trash; froot loops/gummies/marshmallows/m&ms for treats]

The frustrating part has been that the accidents seem to happen mere seconds/minutes after we've just prompted him about telling us when he has to go.  Argh.

But the wonderful thing has been that from the very start, he has stayed dry all the way through naps and overnight.  Every day/night!  The boy has a bladder of steel, for sure!

So we're learning and he's learning, and just as all my sweet, encouraging friends have stated, "He'll get it."

[he was excited to show off his underwear to his bear and puppy dog]

round 2 // 32 weeks

Happy new year!  32 weeks today, which, more importantly, means ONLY 8 WEEKS TO GO.

Yiiiiiikes!

I'm in a slight panic at the thought that we have 2 months left and I really haven't done the first thing to get ready for this child, except collect a few girl clothes from sweet friends.

At least she has a name.

I've been trying to just "get past Christmas" (isn't that terrible??) before trying to tackle anything, but in the back of my mind I knew that meant I really was only leaving myself a couple months to get ready for her.

NOT in the back of my mind anymore...now it's smacking me in the forehead!

So here's the bump comparison -- I look better here, in my opinion, than in my last one.  Go figure.

I had a doctor's appt on Monday that ended up being a little more involved than I planned.  At this stage of pregnancy, and especially with one who has hypertension (ahem, that would be me), it's pretty standard to begin weekly non-stress testing at my doc appts.  They hook me up to a couple monitors that will monitor the baby's heartbeat and movements.

So on the 30 min long NST Monday, they observed "variables that are concerning".  I asked for a little more information and they said variables could be anything from cord or head compression, lack of oxygen, decreasing placental function, etc.

Due to these "concerning" variables, they sent me for an ultrasound at which they performed a BPP (biophysical profile).  Basically, they watch the baby doing several different things for a longer period of time to make sure everything is okay.  These things include breathing practice (hard to imagine babies have to "practice" their breathing), heartbeat, moving all their extremities, etc.

Natalie got an 8 out of 8.

That's my girl.  :)

So nothing of concern to report and we got a few more photos of her...

This one tripped me out -- she was looking right at us!  She opened her mouth a couple of times...it was crazy to see.  I hope you can see her face, how she's looking out...

Jeff was off on Monday and had Deacon while I was at my appt, but when they decided to send me for an ultrasound, in case there was anything to it, I told Jeff I really didn't want to go by myself.  Bless his heart, he and Deacon met me and we all went down to have my ultrasound done together.  I thought Deacon would think it was really cool to see his sister on the monitor, but he seemed more concerned with mama laying on the table with jelly all over her belly..."you okay, mama?"  Every time I looked at him, he was looking at me instead of the monitor.  It was sweet.  Love that boy!

So I'll be back at the doctor's office Monday for my weekly appt.  Praying we don't have to do the ultrasound thing again.  It's great to see our little girl, but I'd like to avoid the drive downtown to the office that has the ultrasound equipment, thankyouverymuch.