Final Plans...Check!

Months ago, my sister and I began planning the birthday party to celebrate Rachel's third birthday and my nephew Owen's fifth birthday. Unfortunately, though their birthdays are June 23rd and 26th, respectively, the local parks were booked up. So we slipped 2 weekends into July (the 9th, to be exact) before we could get the party planned. I was a little wary of this, but it was the best we could do at the time, so I made a deal with baby to have him/her respect big sister and stay in until at least July 10th.

Normally we hold the celebration at Blacklick Woods, but this time we went for a park in Gahanna called Friendship Park. It turned out to be a really nice shelter, very close to the playground (maybe a little too close, considering the little ones had trouble focusing on anything BUT the playground), and the weather couldn't have been more perfect.

And little brother/sister honored the deal and stayed put through the party.

This was my last set of plans before my due date. Everything else is loose and tentative, just in case this kiddo makes an early appearance.

Speaking of early appearances, it doesn't look like the kiddo will be making one. I am not 37 weeks (which is considered full term), but the doctor reports that I am still only about a fingertip dilated and not effaced at all. The baby's head is down and in position perfectly, but apparently my body is not giving up this pregnancy thing anytime soon.

I am not complaining too much. I remember the sleepless nights after having Rachel, and while I am none-too-eager to return to that level of zombie-hood, I am kind of done being pregnant for a while. I feel really large (despite everyone's comments about how small I still look for being so far along), and the pressure/pain in my pelvis is getting pretty old. Plus, I would really like to meet my new son/daughter!!

So for now I wait. I told my doctor I would like to let things go until August 4th or 5th before we talk induction, though I am hoping something happens before then. And chances are, it will, given Rachel's dramatic entrance into the world. I just might be one of those women who doesn't have contractions on her own -- I will wait around until my water breaks or whatever.

As for Rachel's party -- it couldn't have gone much better, with the one exception that the Mickey Mouse Clubhouse cake I made for her kept dismantling in the heat. It looked great while it lasted though!! And the kids had so much fun.

Next year we will have to see if we combine this little one's birthday with Rachel's!

Almost Full-Term

It occurs to me that I really haven't done justice to Baby #2 in my blog posts. I realized this last week when I got back from the doctor. I had been experiencing an unusual amount of discomfort (even pain) since going to the Zoo on Rachel's birthday, so the doctor did an internal exam a week earlier than normal. During the exam, she discovered that Baby's head is very low. She also determined that I was just shy of 1 cm dilated. So I went back to figure out (from blog posts) how far along I was at 35 weeks with Rachel. That made me realize that I haven't been nearly as descriptive about the pregnancy with Baby #2. So I will have to try to make up for that in the remaining however-many weeks I have left!
To start, I had my mini-shower for Baby #2 on June 25th! My friends Kim, Lawrene, and Jen (also my SIL) organized this for me and I can't thank them enough! I had such a good time and got some nice things I needed for Baby #2. I had started a registry for Baby #2 with various small things (and a couple bigger ones I intended to buy myself) that you have to re-purchase when you have a second child. My awesome family and friends were so generous that I really don't have much left to get! I even got enough gift cards to get the glider I want. With Rachel, I always used a rocking chair, which was okay, but I remember being very uncomfortable at certain points, and I thought it would be really nice to have a more comfortable chair for the late nights with Baby.

The shower was a lot of fun. It even included a game centered around the gender of the baby. Apparently most people think this baby is a boy. I still waiver back and forth, but my inclination is leaning toward boy. I don't have a reason really, other than the difference in how I am carrying this pregnancy. I have gained less weight (28 lbs so far as compared to 39 lbs by this point last pregnancy), and the majority of it is in my belly (36-week picture posted below). But I have talked to a few moms who had this happen with babies that ended up both being girls, so I guess this doesn't hold much weight (no pun intended).

So anyway, as I mentioned, I have been in some pain since June 23rd. The best way I can describe the feeling is that it feels like I imagine a guy would feel after getting kicked in the balls, after the initial sting has worn off. It just feels sore and achy, like I pulled a muscle. The doctor seemed to think the baby being so low contributed to this feeling, and chalked it up to normal discomfort.

I was still feeling this at my 36-week appointment on Tuesday, and the nurse practitioner mentioned that if I am in a lot of pain at 37 weeks, they can try to strip my membranes to induce an earlier labor. It isn't guaranteed to work, but she said it might help. I haven't had any contractions that were noticable, and I didn't progress past the <1 cm from week 35, but I don't know if I will ask for the membrane stripping or not. I am in no real rush to get Baby out -- I guess I just hoped to make some progress from week to week to encourage me that the pain I was feeling had some purpose. My main goal was to get past this Saturday (July 9th) because we are having Rachel & Owen's birthday party that day. Once I am past that, I have no plans to do much of anything, so if Baby makes an early debut, I am fine with it. I have work in a pretty stable situation...the only issue is in a promotion I am hoping to interview for something this month. That's a whole other story though.

I feel pretty good about where we stand with baby-readiness though. I washed the carseat cover and installed it in my car. I ordered the extra carseat base using some gift cards we got for cashing in rewards points. I washed the bottles, the cover for the swing, the crib mattress pad, and some smaller gender-neutral clothes we had from Rachel, and the nursery is fairly clean. I even pre-paid the majority of our hospital bill.

Tune in next week for the latest news on Baby #2. I hit full-term on Sunday!