Week 36- Can't wait to Meet you Mr. Man

In a couple of days I will have reached week 37 and be considered full term. That date is July 28th to be exact, which just happens to coincide with my Midwifes birthday. Constant and I couldn't be more excited as we approach our safe date. We seem to be as prepared as humanly possible. The Nursery is ready, everything that could possible ever touch our little mans skin has been washed and neatly put away, we have every gadget set up and ready to be used, car seats are here, birthing classes are finished and we've savored every piece of parenting advice that we have received,  now it is just a waiting game I suppose. Three weeks never seemed to far away. As the date gets closer I find myself having occasional bouts of "Oh My God, what did I do?". I can't believe I am going to be a mom. I've got a little man to care for and raise. What do I know about raising a little guy into a strong, independent, loving, successful man? If the way I've raised my little bully Bentley is any indication of how I will raise my son, this guy has no chance...how do you spell- spoiled rotten? It's definitely an interesting time as we wait out the third semester. I dream about how our lives will ever be changed, changed for the positive I know, but changed no less. I think about the upcoming events and holidays in our lives and think about how wonderful it will be to be sharing those times with our little boy. I look at my husband and know that he will be the best daddy ever...

Week 34- My Bradley Birthing Class Ends

Last week we finished our final Bradley Birthing Class that we had been taking weekly since mid April. The class was awesome and I highly reccomend it to any couple that has found themselves pregnant...regardless if this is the first time around or seventh time around. The class was filled with a weatlh of information. I started the class in April scared and fearful of birth and now, I am welcoming it. What do they say, knowledge is power? I couldn't agree more. I do know that it is not going to be easy, but I have come to welcome it now that I understand the stages that my body will go through during this process. The class brought Constant and I closer in a way that is hard to describe as well. He will be my coach through this process and I am confident that he will be amazing. Week by week he was equally engaged and made a tremendous effort to learn right beside me. There is no one else that I would rather have by side.

Here are a couple of photos of our class. 

Erika & Dana (Due August 3rd) , Ryan & Sarah (Due August 8th) and me and Constant (Due August 18th)

Rebekah*, Erika & Dana, Ryan & Sarah and me and Constant

(* Our Bradley Birth Coach who gave birth to her 3rd child in early June)

NH Baby Shower...Some where around Week 30

Finally, I've downloaded my pictures and thought I would share some. I am not moving that fast these days. With only 30 days left until my due date I find myself moving slower than a turtle!

These were the amazing centerpieces!

Get it? By the way, this cake was 100% Gluten Free and it was Amazing!!

Becki, Me, and Jess

Lambs that were given as gifts!!

Party Favors!

Me and My BFF

Baby Bumps!

Watch out...pregnancy is catchy.

Becki, Me, Amy and Kate

Constant and I

All of our beautiful gifts!

My Mom and I

Week 29, 30, 31....

Wow, I can't believe how behind I am on my blog. I can't seem to keep up with time now that I have entered the third trimester. I have been very busy and according to my pregnancy ticker, I only have 59 more days left. It's been a great couple of weeks. I had my first baby shower here in NH on June 6th. Constant and I and our little man were incredibly spoiled and are still very choked up about how incredibly generous everyone was. The shower was extremely nice and thanks to my mom and her team of assistants, the baby shower was far more spectacular than we could have ever imagined. We are so appreciative and are very thankful for the many wonderful people we have in our life. I was even surprised by my dear from Jess who came up from NJ and my dear friend Becki who came from Albany to celebrate our special day. I of course have pictures, but will post them later :-) You have to see how precious the invitations and center displays were.

So, with all of our new goodies that came during our shower and have been arriving in the mail, we have been busy organizing and getting the baby's room ready. I can't believe a little baby needs so many things. How did kids ever survive back in the day? We've also been busy being a little crafty and put a stencil up on the wall....here is one that I can share, the other is a surprise! It says...."shh....baby dreaming"

I've also ordered the curtains and a rug...just have to get the curtain rod to hang the curtains and some minor other things and I think his room is officially ready for his arrival.

We've also been busy with Bentley as he had a torn ACL and luxating patella and had to have surgery a little over a week ago. He had been limping for awhile now and wasn't the lively dog he once used to be. For the record, he was never officially very lively, but it sounded good. So, we took him in for surgery and warmed up the credit card and after a little over a week later he's finally starting to come around. Let me tell you, this guy is one big HAM SANDWICH when it comes to recovery. He wouldn't eat for four days and only started to eat when I was instructed to buy him beef baby food. I am just glad that the hard part is over with. Now hopefully he is headed for a healthy recovery. His BFF and sister Sophie has been absolutely lost without him as we have had to keep them separated.

This week I am getting maternity photos taking by Bella Luce Photography and can not wait. You have to check her site out. She is an absolutely amazing photographer. I promise to post preggo pictures of me after she makes me beautiful. I am so excited as she is going to take infant photos of our little man a couple of days after he is born.

http://www.labellalucephoto.com/

How am I feeling? Overall pretty good. The last week or so I have started to get swollen ankles and hands and really do not enjoy that. I have been trying to relax a little more and keep my feet up in order to avoid it as much as possible. I've steadily been measuring two weeks bigger than I am suppose to be so either I am having a big baby or I'm just big. I can't decide which I hope it is. Either way, the important thing is that the baby is healthy. He's had consistently great heart beats and he's been very, very active. I love feeling him kick my tummy. It's probably one of the greatest feelings that I have ever had. I can't wait to meet this little guy.

I've been trying to envision what he will look like and I can't help to think that he's going to look like a little Constant with dimples. How precious will he be?

This coming weekend we are headed to NY for my shower with my family. My cousin Melissa has been working for months in preparation for our special day. I can't wait to see my family. It's been so long and I miss everyone so much.

Today we are celebrating Constant's first Father's Day as a daddy to be.He's already been a great dad and I am so excited to raise our little boy together. I know without a doubt that he will be an amazing father.

28 Weeks- 3rd Trimester, SATC2 and Memorial Weekend!!!

I hit a major milestone this week- The Third Trimester--Yippee!!!

I started the 3rd Trimester off right by watching Sex and The City 2 (SATC2) accompanied by my husband. I didn't even have to twist his arm to go. What a great man. When I went and saw SATC1 I remember looking and feeling fabulous wearing my favorite purple pumps. In this spirit of wanting to feel FABULOUS again, I dressed up a  black T-Shirt and my maternity jeans with a pair of pretty earrings, necklace and sparkly flip flops. Though I waddled into the theater this time versus strutting with confidence, I have to admit for that short period of time I felt equally fabulous. 

I've been a huge SATC fan since my girlfriend Jen introduced me to the series. My connection was never about the men, it was about the incredible friendships, journeys and about that "little something"-- to make you feel fabulous.

Of course I loved the movie which made me realize just how much I really needed a good dose of my girlfriends (even if they are my SATC gf's). I've also realized that more and more through pregnancy how important girlfriend relationships are ever.  I have really good friends in my life and for that I am very thankful, I only wish they lived closer b/c as SJP says "sometimes you just need to get away with girls".

Week 27- Last Week of 2nd Trimester

Wow, it's the last week of my second trimester. How did that happen? I can't say that it was all gracious and care free. As the weather warms up and my belly begins to explode, I wonder how I will make it to August 18th. I guess as any person in recovery would say: "one day at a time". Luckily, I really do feel great. I still have most of my energy and find myself comfortably staying up until 9:15 :-) Except for the occasional surprise, morning sickness is pretty much gone and I really am still sleeping well. The lil man seems to be doing fine as well. He's getting into a kicking schedule- I find him the most active in the evenings when I've settled in for the night.

I have so many exciting things coming up and so many finishing touches to work on over the next 13th weeks. I have Baby Showers to attend, maternity pictures to have done, a baby room to finish up, a lot more reading and research to do and dogs to train for the arrival of their little brother. I suspect that it is going to be a busy couple of months.
I found this frame yesterday and couldn't resist. Isn't it ADORABLE!!! I think for me, I fell in love when I saw the 2 little lines on the p-stick though :-) I can't wait to meet our little man.

Week 26- Bradley Birthing Classes

Scanning over my entries, I realized I haven't talked much about the birthing class that we have been taking. Per recommendation from our midwife, we have been taking the Bradley Birthing Method classes. The classes started in April and we meet every week for two hours over the course of twelve weeks. We are joined by two other couples and meet in at our instructor’s house. We chose The Bradley Method over Hypnobirth as my midwife pointed out that if we had remotely "A" Type Personalities that we would probably struggle using the Hypnobirth method. Seeing that Constant is an Engineer and I am an Excel freakazoid, we naturally chose the Bradley Birth Method.

In general, the classes are to prepare you for natural child birth and are referred to as a Husband Coached Childbirth Method. In general, your husband /partner, etc. is responsible for being the coach during labor. I can't speak for any other births as I have never participated in any, but from the way I am understanding this is that Constant will be my main coach during labor (versus the nurses/doctors/midwives) - we will use the pain management techniques and relaxation exercises that we have learned and practiced throughout the class. Some folks that were not familiar with the method asked me "12 weeks- why so long", I guess the answer is- If I was training for a marathon I wouldn't just go for one short run would I?
I really didn't know what to expect. This week we will start our seventh class and honestly, I've really enjoyed the classes- much to my surprise. Regardless if you're planning to have a natural child birth or not, the classes prepare you in so many ways that I really believe you will have a better birth, if anything, a much more informed one.

So far we've learned everything from good pregnancy nutrition to the changes and stages that your body will go through during labor. Don't get me wrong, never have they ever said natural child birth was easy and pain free- they do call it labor right?--but I have learned that the pain is manageable and understanding the stages that my body will go through (particularly the transitional stage) has made me feel more comfortable with natural child birth. For me personally, I think just understanding what I will go through during the process has put my mind at ease (for the most part) and has taking the fear out of the process.

I hear a lot of stories from woman that say they for example didn’t want to get an epidural and had planned for a natural child birth, but couldn’t take the pain anymore and opted for one. Most likely that person was going through the transitional phase (on average lasts from 10-30 mins) which really means that stage 2 labor-- pushing/birth was right around the corner and they were almost there. Had they been informed and understood the process, maybe their choice would have been different. Just a thought.