I had Ella stand on the couch and take a picture of me today at 38 weeks so that I had some record of this pregnancy. . . (should have done it at like 32 weeks so I was looking a little cuter and not so LARGE, but better late than never!)
Well, I have lasted longer with this pregnancy now than I did with Maggie. (Which, with the amount of contractions I started having at about 30 weeks, is pretty impressive). We are definitely glad this baby is still comfortable in my belly for the time being as we were pretty worried she would come too early for a while. This pregnancy has been WAY harder on my body than the last two and I have had way more aches and pains than I ever had before. With the other two I always felt like I could still do pretty much anything up until the time I delivered, but not so with this one. Brad says it is just cause I am old now. What a nice, sympathetic doctor he is, I only hope he isn't so blunt and candid with his patients :)
My parents are coming into town on Saturday to help, so as long as she doesn't surprise us in the next day or two, they will be here to take care of E & M while we are in the hospital. We are thrilled! We never had any family around when we had the other two, so we are excited to share it with them. The ideal situation is that we will have this baby sometime next week, have my parents here to help, and then Brad will take his 2 weeks paternity leave as soon as they head back to Utah. By the way, have I mentioned that I am beyond THRILLED that Brad gets paternity leave! With Maggie he was only given off the day I had her and the day he brought us home from the hospital and then was back at work every day from about 5am-7pm (including weekends) and on call every 4th night. It was SO hard, but I think it was even worse on him than it was for me. We are both so excited to have some time to adjust to our new, improved family!
I haven't done too much to get ready for this baby. There isn't really much to prepare for I think when you are having your 3rd girl in a row in about the same season as the others. I did go out and buy her a new outfit for coming home from the hospital, so at least she has one thing that is hers. One thing we did need was a new dresser, since the other 2 girls share one and I felt there was no way we could fit clothes for a 3rd in there. I found a pretty decent one at a garage sale and talked the previous owners out of it for $12. I wasn't in love, but felt like I would be able to make it suit our needs for now. About a month ago I decided to refnish it and spruce it up a little before the baby comes.
Here's a before shot as I was preparing to sand it in the garage. . .
I sanded it and stained it, but then wasn't happy with the stain. It turned out really splotchy--which I later learned is a big problem with pine, especially if you want to stain it a dark color--who knew? So then I sanded it again and painted it the second time around. I found some new drawer pulls on the cheap from Target and here is the end result:
Not perfect, but I am happy with it. And I like it WAY more than the original, so that's good!
Other than that, I have just been trying to keep the house clean and the girls busy. In the last week that has been a lot harder as I am trying also to take it easy since my body has been looking "ready" for awhile. I get a lot of contractions with almost anything--even grocery shopping has become a major chore! I have just been in postpone mode trying to hold out until my parents come. Now that I think we are actually going to make it, I'm starting to worry that all this preventing might backfire and this baby will decide to come late. If only you could plan for these things, right?
I still haven't really packed a bag---I just never really know what is so important to put in there beyond the last minute stuff that you use everyday anyway. I would love to hear any suggestions or recommendations though!
Oh, and we still haven't decided on a name. I have this problem since both Ella and Maggie were inspired from our grandmothers' names, I feel like I have to name this baby after someone and make sure there is special meaning behind it. I just feel like I can't just give her any name, but of course, it also has to be a name I like as well! I hope we can get some inspiration on that one soon.
The girls are especially eager for this baby to come now. I have told them all along that the baby won't come until after Ella's birthday and after Grandma and Grandpa get here. I am afraid come Saturday night they'll be expecting a little too much right away. I think we are all a little too excited to meet this new little member of our family!
12 comments:
You know Rebecca's a pretty good name. And then she could be named after her favorite aunt. :)
So glad to hear an update on you. I've been thinking about you lots. Wish we were closer and I could take the girls for a day or two. They'd all love a sleepover, and I'm sure you could use the break.
good luck Heather! I'm excited for you and I think that dresser looks great! How did you paint it to look like a stain? Impressive.
You look great and so does the dresser. Great Job! Good Luck. Keep us posted:)
You don't look big at all, Heather! You look great. Good luck.
I have a friend named Jefrilyn, that way you could name her after her favorite uncle, and still have a girlyish name
I was looking at Miche bags the other day and noticed that they had both an Ella shell and a Maggie shell, so maybe you'll get inspiration from looking at the names of the shells? :)
http://www.michebag.com/categories/shells
Or Nicolette or something like that might be cute too.
You look great! I can't believe you've been having contractions since 30 weeks, you are a trouper! Good luck during these last few days!
I took a book or something to read in the hospital while I was up nursing at night. Other than that, the only things I wanted at the hospital were my own toiletries and a nursing pillow.
you look great,and awesome deal on the dresser. I've been looking on craigslist for a dresser with no luck, maybe I need to do the garage sale thing. And the dresser looks SO much better. Good luck with the baby!
Ella, we're so impressed with your picture. You're a GREAT photographer! You must have learned how to handle a camera from your mom. You even know how to make her look comfortably pregnant.
Can't wait to see the new little baby! Make sure to call when your have her, and I will come snag Ella and Maggie for a day.
We are so excited for you to have this baby!! You look great! We can't wait to see what name you come up with!
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