Week 33: It's Almost November!!

Missed the hospital tour this morning (bad parents already!). We were pushing it timewise so Tony suggested to reschedule, which ended up being a good idea. We picked up the stroller from the Dawe's house (picture above) and did the big Market Basket grocery trip (we save SO much money there!). I think Tony was actually disappointed that the stroller was so easy to put together. He was hoping for a challenge. He also assembled the baby seat, tub and car seat. Her room is filling up quickly! We took some belly pics while we were at the Dawe's. Such a beautiful yard and view, it was hard not to! Foo Foo put on a show for my Mom Friday night. She was nonstop and my Mom looked like an excited kid at a candy store while she felt her move. She kept saying, "She's wild!" and laughing (and jumping up and down a little bit too). She's predicting an early arrival. Her guess: Dec. 7.

Counting Sheep and Jelly Beans

This week hasn’t seen any big events but instead many small ones. Today marks 33 weeks (Foo Foo is now the size of a honeydew melon). And as my friend, Courtney said, “You could go anytime now, sister!” I hope it doesn’t happen too too early but I wouldn’t mind 1-2 weeks early. Most of my new mom friends were on time to about a week late. Foo Foo’s name could be Mary after all (jk as that violates Tony’s anti-alliteration laws).

Sugar cravings haven’t subsided this week except for Tuesday when I was able to stay away from all chocolate in the office. I’ve been visiting Michelle’s desk too and trying to pick out the margarita-flavored jelly beans. Hey, a girl can use all the help she can get!

Sleeping has actually been more comfortable this week as I gave into the extra pillow suggestions and stuffed it under my belly and along my left side. I’m having a hard time getting up in the morning and I’ve been going to bed even earlier than before. We’re talking in the 8:30pm time frame. If the Red Sox were in the World Series I would stay up but I’m not going to torture myself for crap TV.

Another thing I’ve learned is to not hold your pee. When you have to go, don’t wait. If you do, it can feel like you’re going to die. Not really, but it feels like a ton of pressure slamming down on your bladder. Not comfortable at all. Kegel exercises are meant to be done separately.

The more distinguished movements continue this week as the books say she weighs in at more than 4lbs. Last night while we were driving home I left a distinct arm (or leg) move across my entire belly. It was wild! I’m supposed to say “Foo Foo!” when that happens instead of gasping or saying something else so that Tony doesn’t think we’re about to get in a car accident. But yesterday I couldn’t help it. I definitely gasped out loud! The day continued to get more interesting as the hormonal tides shifted as Tony says and I cried my way through the evening news. War homecomings are happy and sad at the same time. Fallen soldier stories are the worst. This particular story had the grandfather - also a veteran - tear up and say that he swore he would never again cry over another fallen soldier. I lost it! Tony laughed at me. I was laughing too but through the tears.

I followed my Mom’s advice to help relax: take a bath. I always remember her taking baths. Apparently she took them when she was pregnant too, just with a carton of ice cream complete with whipped cream and nuts. Anyway, I told Tony I was going to take a bath (which I haven’t done yet in this house and honestly can't remember the last time I did) and he started laughing. He said I was going to look like an island with my belly popping out of the water. Nice, Tony. Real nice!

COMING UP:
Saturday - Brigham Tour
Wednesday - Breastfeeding Class
next Friday - 34wk Check-Up at the docs (hopefully this will include the H1N1 shot as I haven’t been able to get one yet)

Images from the Nursery

Foo Foo is going to love her mobile from Ali

hahah D Day saved in Tony's phone

Reaction to the mobile music

The crib is now set up & ready to go!

adorable blanket from Carah

Edema and Junk Food Attack

I might just change the name of my blog to "The Bloated Blogger." That's what Tony called me this morning when he was helping me get situated in the chase lounge with my feet propped up on 4, yes 4, pillows. This has been dubbed "The Edema Attack." The extreme swollen ankles and feet started on Wednesday or Thursday. It became super obvious on Friday morning at the gym. I finished a set on the quad machine and looked down to clearly see the indentation across the lower front part of my legs. GROSS! Onto the butt exercise with the band around my ankle. Again, the pressure left an obvious indentation. I was thinking of ways to put my feet up at work while I stretched... I took my rubber flip flops off after showering and it tooked like I still had them on! My poor feet and disappearing ankles! I told Tony about my edema attack when I got to work. I don't think he really believed me until Friday night when I took my sneakers and socks off. There was a very obvious and deep outline of where my socks ended. He was totally grossed out! Meanwhile, my Mom propped my feet up on the couch and Aunt Marjorie rubbed them! They were both excited to see how much my belly had grown in just the last week. Marj was talking to the baby and calling her Princess.

Friday was not a good food day. It was a tasty day but with little nutritional value seeing as the menu included chocolate cake for breakfast (leftover from Courtney's going away party), two mini and most delicious vanilla cupcakes from Party Favors that Al brought in and one more cupcake (I felt bad for Kristen and had to take it off her hands!) in the afternoon.

We went to bed early Friday night and got up around 4:30 on Saturday to bring Marj to the airport. From Logan we drove directly to Tony's parents' house in Burlington, VT. Foo Foo was active almost the whole way. At one point on Rt. 89 she rolled her bum to the side and kicked her leg out and didn't want to bring it back in (a little uncomfortable but she must have had to stretch). Saturday we spent the day relaxing and eating (what else are you supposed to do in the rain?). Honestly, all I did was lay in the chase lounge with my feet propped up, read magazines, watch football and eat. Kim had picked up ice cream at the grocery store so I was sure to indulge in some of that too. Chuck decided to make apple crisp later that night and I enjoyed some of that too. Hey, why not?! Kim was sitting nearby most of the afternoon so I called her over whenever Foo Foo seemed active enough for her to feel. Not many defined kicks but a lot of rolling around. She likes to shake her bum! She was moving so much that I tried to capture it on camera.

The crib is coming home with us tonight. Can't wait to see it all set up. Doesn't seem long now!

Stocking Up on .... Kitty Litter?

Now that we’re down to single digit weeks, it’s time for me to stop having a potty mouth. So this week we decided to work on our road rage. It was early Thursday morning on the Expressway when Tony said I need to sound more nurturing instead of yelling at bad drivers. “You must’ve forgotten your blinker, you silly goose!” was what we should say, he said. It was really funny. We’ve been saying “silly goose” since.

Lunchtime topic with the girls that day was centered on babies and pregnancy. Jocelyn is now 12 weeks pregnant but feels more bloated than pregnant. I definitely felt the same way. It’s not like you can tell anyone and everyone you’re expecting and not just hitting the buffet for every meal. And of course nobody’s going to ask. We talked about the pros and cons of staying home, going back to work and working part-time. Honestly, staying home sounds fantastic but just isn’t an option with Tony’s school and our current situation. Maybe someday! Also Thursday, we made reservations for a hospital tour later this month.

Friday morning we slept in like it was the weekend because I had a 10am doctor’s appointment. Tony woke up to a funny – but disturbing – dream of me going into labor early. He was mad that we couldn’t find any doctors or nurses and had to deliver the baby by ourselves. She came out a baby but quickly morphed into an orange and white tabby kitten! What the… We’d need to stock up on kitty litter instead of diapers and baby wipes!

This part of the morning might be more entertaining in say 6 months or so, but I’m going to tell it anyways. We were getting ready for the doc’s and I tossed Tony’s boxers and jeans on the rug in front of the sink and sat on the toilet quickly to pee. It was a pregnant emergency. I must’ve been thrown off by his clothes because I did not notice that the seat was down! What a mess! It was like an April Fool’s joke gone bad. Tony heard me laughing hysterically and came running to see what had happened. I had tears in my eyes from laughing so hard but wasn’t crying by any means. It all depends on the pregnant “hormonal tides” as Tony calls them. Crying or laughing, you can’t predict.

Tony decided to come to the doctor’s with me so I wouldn’t have to take the T and catch the swine flu, he said. He also had a chance to hear the heartbeat again and ask questions. We learned that our doctor’s office is the first place to call when I go into labor, not the hospital. Sometimes – especially with first-time Moms – they’ll ask the parents to come to the office to be evaluated first. That was good to find out. I have a feeling I’ll be one of those early labor freakout Moms. My midwife also told me the results of my glucose test. I knew the numbers were fine because I would’ve heard something if they weren’t. She said I was the furthest thing from being diabetic. I also asked about the linea negra (the line down the center of your belly), which Tony swore he saw today on the lower part of my belly. He said it was very faint but definitely there. I had read it was a dark line so I told him he was definitely wrong. And he was completely right! Oh well, I have a faint linea negra below my disappearing belly button. We also asked our midwife about which body parts were where, since she’s been so active lately. Her head was facing down (she showed me and I felt it!) but won’t drop until 2-3 weeks before delivery. Her back was toward us with her bum up and her limbs were facing (and kicking/punching) my insides. So apparently the rolling at the top of my belly has been Foo Foo shaking her bum at us!

That night I wish I had a video camera and a flashlight handy because Foo Foo was the most active she’s ever been. I think she was rolling her entire body around. I could feel my belly changing shapes and I’m sure I could have seen it if I turned the light on!

Saturday morning we invited Rachael into bed and she settled in next to my belly! She has never done that before. She usually plops her head by ours and stakes out a pillow. Maybe I’m reading too much into this – or it was just a nice warm place for her head – but either way, it was adorable! That afternoon we headed out to my Mom’s to drop off the day bed and bring back most of the baby clothes. We stopped at the furniture store on the way home and picked up the dresser/changing table. Tony set up the table and diaper Genie (pictured above); the crib will be next weekend’s trip to the in-laws in VT. The room is looking good!

To the Left, to the Left

Tuesday morning I woke up to Foo Foo kicking and moving around in the upper left side of my belly, a brand new activity hot spot. She was grovin' all the way to work too. I could even feel her through my wool jacket!

Maybe it was the combination of her craziness and my uterus expanding that convinced me to go straight to work at 6:30 this morning instead of the gym. I knew I was too sore for a full workout so I postponed and went for a shorter elliptical/stretching session during lunch. I actually felt pregnant today and it slowed me down a bit, for the best I'm sure.

I'm now a fan of tying my shoes standing up with a foot up on a chair, stool, etc. It makes it easier and I don't have to hold my breath like I do when sitting down. Are velcro shoes coming back anytime soon?!

My belly has definitely been getting in the way lately. I forget it's there (and getting bigger every day) and today I bumped it into the copier. Ouch! I felt my belly, remembered I was almost 8 months pregnant, then noticed that I was losing my belly button. Also this week, I've gotten my belly SOAKED while leaning against the sink and doing dishes and I've woken up with pins and needles in my hand from falling asleep on my arm (with my belly!).

Tuesday afternoon Foo Foo and I went with Tony for his finger surgery. While waiting, I walked around the Brookline shops and discovered Isis Maternity. What a cool store! I could have spent a ton of money there. I restrained myself and bought one book (pictured above) for Daddy from Foo Foo. It's adorable!

Lights On!

Foo Foo enjoyed her first (semi) family mini-vacation to Block Island yesterday. She was active on the boat on the way over and slept during most of the afternoon while we were biking around the island, illegally. Scott mentioned I was pregnant at the bike shop and the employee said pregnant women were not allowed on mopeds or bikes. It was on written in marker on the sign right next to Scott. Onto the next shop where I hung out behind Tony then slid across the front desk area and signed the liability form. It's not like I'm trying snowboarding for the second time ever or skydiving. It's riding a bike! We explored the island a bit and checked out the historic lighthouse and petting zoo. Deb (Scott's mother-in-law) and I opted to shop and get ice cream while the rest of the crew went on to another island hot spot. I bought a t-shirt for Foo Foo, the first gift I've allowed myself to purchase. I was worried if I started too early, I would spend entirely too much before knowing what she'll actually need after the shower(s). Anyways, it's adorable and I'll post a pic above of her shirt compared in size to Daddy's. Also above, a picture of me on the beach in my "future Red Sox fan" shirt - still a little large - a fun shower gift from Becky. Unfortunately, it didn't bring the Red Sox much luck on Sunday. There's always next season!

Sunday night we tried shining a light on my tummy to get a reaction out of Foo Foo. She moved but it could've been just coincidence. The second time we tried it worked for sure! She was kicking every 5-10 seconds when the light was shining on her. We could also feel a distinctive round part of her body on my upper right side, her head or shoulder perhaps? It was wild! Tony said he thought he would feel little kicks here and there throughout the pregnancy. He didn't realize (nor did I!) there would be different types or intensities. Nobody told us about that! :)

Sausages

The "Swollen Feet" email from WhattoExpect.com remains unopened in my hotmail inbox. I didn't have time to read it yet and since it hadn't happened yet, I wasn't worried about it. Well, time to revisit the inbox. Yesterday - granted I went shopping for 4 hours and was on my feet quite a bit - I took my socks off around 9:30pm to reveal sausages. Not my feet and ankles by any means but swollen sausages. Lovely!

Rules, Regulations and Stipulations

I'll genuinely feel bad for our daughter if Tony has as many rules about dating as he does about what to name her. He's shot down almost every name in the book(s) and thinks of ridiculous rhymes for each one or how she could be made fun of on the school playground. That's why at the beginning of the naming process we just started calling her Foo Foo, an all purpose word made up by my Mom for something you don't know what to call. Foo Foo Female, her full name, became a joke after my Mom told us a story about a Spanish-and-not-English-speaking immigrant family that gave birth at her hospital. Yet unnamed, their daughter took home the name the kind nurses had given her on her chart. Female, with an accent over the "e" of course. Can you stand it? Poor kid! Anyway, that's the story of this blog's title...

Back to Tony's long list of rules. Names can't rhyme with anything; can't be someone he's known and didn't like; can't be unisex like Jamie or Casey; can't be a month like April or June; can't be one syllable (only the nickname can be); can't end in an "ey" sound (too much with the last name); can't start with "M" for fear of alliteration (guess that means he doesn't like my name!)and the initials can't spell out a word or mean anything when you google it.

Of course we have a few names in mind but we decided at the beginning that we'd like to see her first and then make a decision. So that's the plan. I considered revising so I could ask Gram Furze to knit her a Christmas stocking, but that can wait until next year!

I would love to report on my 30week check-up. It was yesterday at 10am and I thought it was at 3pm so needless to say, there is no report. I rescheduled for next Friday so we'll see how Foo Foo is doing at 31weeks. She's very, very active so I'm sure she is doing just great!! My Mom felt her rolling around last night and Auntie Jess (Ventura) felt her kick twice today!

Nice Shoes

Oh the joys of being obviously pregnant and not just a pudgeball. Now I get to listen to the compliments! There are the kind words about your pregnancy but then there are the “I love your shoes” or “you have such gorgeous hair.” Or, they could be sympathy comments in disguise. “You’re pregnant. You’re about to be huge. And I feel bad for you.” Haha jk. I do wonder though. A man at work this week pointed to my belly and asked if I was 6mo pregnant. I took that as a compliment since I’m a month and a ½ past that. And last night I went to an after work function and someone told me I was having a boy. I’m carrying everything in the front. What an awkward thing to say to a pregnant person when you think about it. And what are you going to say to me in say 4 more weeks when that isn’t the case?

Now that we’ve reached 30wks (today!), I’ve been noticing a lot of intense movement. Most of the “gymnastics” is on my right side (some further to the right than before) and in the upper middle area of my belly. Foo Foo is apparently a potassium junkie because she loves bananas! Does flips and summersaults anytime I eat one! Until this week, she has kept the most obvious activity to the morning and night. I know I’m more likely to feel her moving when I slow down and actually lay down at the end of the day. I definitely wasn’t relaxed today at work but could feel her moving bouncing around toward the end of the day. It could be the fact that she’s pushing the 3lb. mark now.

An added bonus to your expanding belly that you wouldn’t normally think about is how your underwear fits after your belly has grown to a certain size. It starts to roll your undies downward, making it feel like your bum is hanging out (which it likely is). A nice thought to add to the many other changes. I’ve also noticed my dwindling level of flexibility. I still do plenty of stretching at the gym and before bed but when it comes to unnecessary acts of bending over, I’m all set. This week I left a paper towel on the floor in the ladies room that I dropped (usually I’m the one picking those up, even ones dropped by others) because I just didn’t feel like bending over.

Rachael's been following me around the house even more so lately. Wednesday morning she sniffed my belly and that night she tried to get up onto the bed in the middle of the night. She's been waking Tony at least once a night for the last week or more. Maybe she thinks I'm sick and I'm not going to be around for awhile.

The emotional instability continues this week. It's more controlled but still lingering. I'm not a crazy bitch or anything, just can't stop the tears once they start. Tony sent me a funny email about it this morning:

"So The Office is having an hour long episode where Jim and Pam are supposedly getting married. You are only allowed to watch it if you haven’t cried over something silly today. Otherwise, you might totally lose it during the show. Haha"

I got a good laugh at that. Tony has definitely sensed my emotional nuttiness lately and he came home early from school today to pick up the house and make dinner. What a guy!

Spilt Milk and a Painted Nursery

Our neighbors have commented that we’re never home on the weekends. We’re not. We’re nomads. We go somewhere every weekend. Well not this weekend. We stayed home the entire two days. And Foo Foo was awake and making her presence known the whole time! Her movements are much more pronounced than a slight kick or punch now (evident by watching my belly when she wakes up!).

My emotions are a little out of whack now too. Friday night, Tony accidentally spilt my milk in my lap and I started crying. OK, I bawled. Like it was the worst thing in the world. But I laughed too. I’m just crazy because I’m pregnant. But Tony had to calm me down and remind me that gasping for air in between fits was not good for the baby. I’ve also become clumsier (yes, hard to believe from the girl who spilt her milk every single night growing up). Saturday afternoon I spilt water all over the floor. I had soaked the pans from our egg/French toast breakfast, saw they were too full with soapy water and still attempted a balance act to the sink. I also chipped a large dinner plate while putting away the dishes Saturday night. We’ve had these dishes since we got married 7 years ago and nothing has happened to them. That’s because this is our first child.

Saturday afternoon we were planning our attack on Home Depot to start the nursery when Tony decided he was going to look through some of the books we got at our “friend” shower. He was looking at their size to figure out shelving but ended up opening them up and adding in funny phrases to some of the rhythms and short stories. He was really hysterical! So we went to Home Depot and picked out a sage color for the room, which Tony kept calling Peter the Rabbit’s carrot or something like that. The real name is Christopher Robin’s Swing. We also bought a bunch of child proof outlets, which cost about 500% more than the regular, cheesy ones we’ve used in the past. So after Tony does all the prep work and opens up the can of paint, he calls me up to the bedroom to look at the color. It’s much lighter and mint-colored than the swatch. They obviously mixed us the wrong color. Back to Home Depot. First-time homeowners/parents/renters, take notice: paints with a “medium base” dry darker than they appear in the can. The HD associate dried the sample for Tony and the color changed before his eyes. We were the dummies. hahah

Since we had bought eggs for a real Saturday morning breakfast, I had the ingredients I needed to bake Tony a cake. We started joking around about future Christmases and what we will tell our daughter to leave out for Santa Claus. Tony wants to tell her that Santa likes cake a few days old so that the chocolate frosting is a little crusty. No cookies and milk at the Musante household. It will be old yellow cake with chocolate frosting and beer. No, just kidding; we’ll stick with milk until she’s older! But while frosting his cake, I decided it would be a good idea to also frost a piece of toast for myself. Like chocolate frosting filled with sugar was close enough to Nutella so it would be fine. Sounds gross, but it was pretty delicious. Too sweet though, I threw half out.

One thing that was nice about staying home this weekend was sleeping in. We didn’t sleep late but we didn’t rush out of bed either. It was relaxing. Whenever Tony was still asleep, I just laid there and hung out with Foo Foo. She was always up. Tony said he heard me tell her to go back to bed in the middle of the night! Sunday morning, Tony tried to listen to her heartbeat but got punched in the ear instead.

Tony’s been painting the nursery for most of the day. It’s a small room but has three windows, a closet and a door so it’s not the easiest to prep and paint. It looks really really good though. We’re both happy with the color. I was sitting on the couch writing Thank You notes from the shower and Tony brought the camera down to show me he had written Foo-Foo on the wall. It was too funny. I went upstairs to see it and he painted two of our favorite names on the wall to compare: Jill and Carmella. He forgot the R in Carmella then spelt it with one L (totally acceptable too but I really like it with two Ls). We like both names equally and definitely won’t decide until she’s born. She could be named something completely different too. We’ll see!

This weekend I realized that I need to slow down. At 29wks, I can’t run around non-stop anymore. My stomach is sore due to stretching and the baby is very active. I would much rather be sitting or laying down when she decides to practice her river dancing. As Tony said, I’m learning a new speed in life: slowing down.

Time for Nursery

We hit week 29 today and apparently Foo Foo is the size of a squash. Since I'm not much of a cook, I couldn't tell you what type of squash that is, but it's big! My belly has grown a lot, even in the last two weeks. Now that I'm pushing 30 weeks, I'm starting to finally feel that "nesting" urge I read about. The spare room hasn't been touched yet but will (allegedly) be painted a sage color this weekend so that it can begin the transformation into a nursery. The day bed will be transferred to my Mom's loft and I'm not sure what's going to happen to the desk in there right now but there definitely won't be room for it once the baby arrives. My Mom and I were talking about the baby's room the other night and she told me a story about my grandmother's friend (or maybe it was my Gram's friend's Mom) who kept her newborn in a shoebox in an old fashioned oven for the first few weeks. Don't worry; we have a crib. Just need to pick it up from Tony's parents' house. We also have a beautiful piece of canvas art (top center) from my friend's Mom, Mrs. Dawe, that literally takes up an entire wall and will look perfect with the new wall color. I can't wait to put up shelving too for all the wonderful books we received at the friend shower. Exciting times!