34 Weeks!

Wow. Only 6 weeks to go. It's crazy. Some of me wants it all to be over, but then I remember when it's over I'll have a baby, which despite how ill I've felt, will be a heck of a lot more work than what Pumpkin is requiring at this point. Ken and I have been finalizing our birth plan, deciding how we want it to go, etc. It gets tricky because my family is HUGE and they ALL want to be involved, but we want a small, intimate birth. So we're making everyone totally mad and only having immediate family at the birth center (which is plenty as far as I'm concerned). The fact of the matter is, the birth center will only hold about 6 people, so our immediate family is really all that will fit anyway. I figure we had a huge family wedding; we can have a small, intimate birth. It will be much calmer, and I will be able to focus on the important parts (labor, Ken, Pumpkin) a lot better. I feel horrible about making everyone mad, but this is what we want, and I'm only going to appologize so much for it. I just really hope the family can consider it from my perpective, and respect what we are wanting.
My Mom and best friend Danielle threw me a shower on Saturday. It was awesome. So many people showed up (over 30!), were so generous with their gifts, and participated in the fun games. Danielle was in charge of coordinating the games, and she had asked Ken a bunch of questions about taking care of a baby, and I was supposed to guess what his answers were. Apparently we need to spend some more time going over basic stuff because some of his answers were crazy. He thought that babies go through 25 diapers a day, and don't sleep through the night until they are a year and a half old (I sure hope not!). Luckily, he said he would change 10 diapers a day, so I figure he can change the first ten, and I'll change any that are left over. I have another shower tomorrow with the family practice office at work, and then the PTs are having another small gathering next month. I'm certainly feeling very loved and spoiled. It's crazy how excited people get about babies. I was expecting a "wedding-level" of excitement, but this is all so much more than I experienced when Ken and I got married. It's very fun.
Pumpkin is getting so big. I'm still not huge when compared to other pregnant ladies, but I feel certainly feel big. My tummy is rock hard, though my belly button isn't sticking out yet. It's getting closer, but not quite there. Pumpkin has very distinct awake/sleep patterns these days. S/he wakes up when I do, then chills out for a few hours, then wakes up again around 10, then is pretty mellow all day until I get ready for bed. Then Pumpkin goes CRAZY! That's when the crazy alien-baby side of Pumpkin comes out. Party in my tummy, which of course keeps me awake. S/he often has a dance-off around 3am which often wakes me up, but I'm able to go back to sleep most of the time.
Anyhoo - things are going well. I'm getting more and more tired from daily activities. We'll see if I'm able to work 40 hours a week until baby comes. I hope I'm able to do it, I just may be an exhausted only-semi-productive blob the last few weeks. Hopefully my office will be ok with that.
Wish us luck.

33 Weeks (almost)





Things are starting to come together with Pumpkin's room. I bought curtains a couple of months ago, that I have decided that I really just don't want or need. The room NEVER gets direct sunlight and is relatively dark   all day. The view is beautiful, so there's not a need to cover up the windows for aesthetic reasons. After going around and around, putting them up and taking them down, they're staying down. I'll keep them for now just in case I change my mind. Ken and I put up the pictures today, as well as the mobile. I made up the crib yesterday, cleaned the carpet, and arranged/organized. I still have my desk to clean off, and some random stuff that I need to find a home for, but I'm well on my way to getting Pumpkin's room completed. I had a really sick morning, so I didn't get as much done today as I would like, but still quite a bit.

32 Weeks

I promise I wont do a "catch-up" post seeing has how I've been MIA for several months. But, I am going to try to make an effort to keep this more updated now. I'm currently 32 weeks. I'm still sick. I know. You probably think I'm lying, but I'm really not. I'm actually currently trying very (very, very) hard to keep my breakfast down. The juice was a bad choice. My eating stuff is better, but not great. I still have to strategically eat - no veggies, very little dairy, very little protein, no whole grains, limited fruit. So in essence I'm still living on white carbs. Sometimes I can sneak something good in. Yesterday at lunch I had a piece of marinated artichoke heart. I was really excited about it (but of course I paid for it all afternoon, so it was really less sneaking and more self-sabotage). We had our last ultrasound yesterday. Pumpkin looks so much like Ken. I keep getting girl vibes, so this baby really may look just like Auntie Alicia. Of course, I'm probably horribly wrong and it's a boy and will look just like Ken. Pumpkin certainly has a Walker nose, not mine for sure. On one of the ultrasound pictures it looked like baby has dimples! I would love that. I'm getting very excited. Part of it is I'm really looking forward to not being pregnant anymore, since I haven't been very well. Last night was our last birth class. I'm so glad we took the classes. Ken was only able to attend the first two because of his school schedule, but my mom came with me to the last three. I'm feeling pretty motivated about the whole birth experience. I know it's going to be really really hard, but I'm excited to meet this little person. This weekend I'm going to finish up Pumpkin's room. I still need to hang up pictures, decorate, CLEAN!, shampoo the carpets, decide if I'm going to put up curtains or not, make the bed, possibly buy more storage baskets, and clean Ken and I's room. My mom and friend Danielle are throwing me a baby shower on the 23rd, and I need to get Pumpkin's room looking like a baby's room for the party. It's getting there, the furniture is in the right places, and most things are put away, but it still is in need of quite a bit of finessing. Hopefully I'm feeling well and able to get everything done this weekend.
Wish us luck.