Pregnancy Post #15, Term

              As of today, I am Term. SO this is something I wasn't informed of prior to my pregnancy, apparently when you hit 37 weeks, you're term, and if I were to go into labour right now, I'm not considered premature. Before this, if I had, they likely would have tried to slow me down, now, it's all systems go. I'm bouncing around my living room on a ball, and apparently pineapple helps to start labour naturally...which is funny because pineapple played a role in trying to get pregnant. I'm trying to walk more, but my lower back can only handle it so long. Jake is still very active, and I'm getting the odd contraction (hello Braxton Hicks). I was getting one once in a while in the beginning, but now they're a little more severe and a couple a day.

             While nesting instinct is there, fatigue has been winning. I'm still trying to get stuff done, but it's not as much. But here is something interesting, apparently guys have a nesting period too. I had noticed Cale getting a LOT done around the house, just getting up and going to town. Usually when housework needs to be done we make a list (I am a list maker remember) and we delegate the jobs. Cale has been just doing stuff. I noticed this and THEN I found an article on nesting in men. I haven't said anything to him because if I do I'm scared it goes away. Cale knows I do a blog, but I don't think he reads it, so I'm safe.

              We have the hospital bags all set to go, they're sitting in Jake's room. I was going to do some posts on what we packed, I was doing them as vlogs actually, but things changed a couple times, so maybe I'll do that as a post after he is here. We also have everything either bought for him that was on our wishlist for him, or it's ordered and on it's way. The only thing we do not have that we had on our list is his high chair. I have it picked out, super basic,  but it's not a priority for several months.

               So I'll wrap this post up explaining what is going to be happening. My due date is March 20th, however I have gestational diabetes. So it's been made clear to me now, unless something drastically changes, my induction date is the 13th. So I'm hoping he will come on his own terms before, but if not, this serves as his official eviction notice. Jacob Douglas Scott Matheson, you have two weeks son. After that, we're coming for you kid.

             K, Luv Ya, Bye
             Nancy

Pregnancy Post #14, How Alice has helped us get ready.

          My Doctor told me 37 weeks is considered "term", so I'm days away from term and it's getting real. I know he's getting ready because I'm feeling more pressure from him pushing down. I think I stress this more in my Christmas posts, but I am a BIG list maker. As a result, I've kind of looked at the registries and compiled a list of things we still needed. Yesterday we took out our gift cards we got a bunch taken off the list. By the end of Friday, we will have everything we need before he gets here, and a LOT of the stuff we know can wait.

          We have been busy around the house, my nesting has continued. We've been doing laundry and organizing a LOT. Where Jake sleeps is waiting for him now. I'm getting used to having his set up RIGHT beside me while I sleep... oddly enough, I sleep better now than I did without it there.

           Cale and I have had some quiet moments in the last couple days where we've discussed different things we feel strongly about when it comes to raising Jake. Not that we haven't had random talks like this many times over the years, but these tend to be a little deeper.

           I can't tell you how happy I am that we have Alice. I feel like to a lesser extent, Alice has taught Cale and I to parent together. I don't think it would shock anyone to know, I'm the authority in our house, the enforcer. Alice's boundaries and rules have been solidified by me, but Cale backs up my moves. Cale is more laid back than I am, and before we got her, I told him, the deal is, we're on the same page always, we never undermine each other, even if we don't 100% agree, we are united. I'll be honest, I wasn't sure how he would do with this. We've had Alice 4 years now, and we're a team. He has done fantastic. So I walk into parenthood confident in us as a team. Good thing because we're close now.

         One thing I have to share too, Alice sleeps in our room, generally she just lays on top of a pillow on Cale's side of the bed. The first night Jake's bed was set up in our room, I heard her moving around in the middle of the night. I woke up to her pillow being right beside Jake's bed. I keep telling people, she knows I'm having puppies, she just doesn't know how many.

          K, Luv Ya, Bye

          Nancy

Pregnancy post #13, Diaper Party and Shower #2

       

The Trio, doesn't matte the event, there always has to be a pic of the three of us

I think it's all getting REALLY real now. Cale and I had our Diaper party, and my second Baby shower over the weekend, and we had a fantastic weekend. Most of our family lives about 4 hours away, a few did make it to the weekend festivities, which was nice.

          Cale's party was Saturday night, and from what I understand, the guys had a great time, and they spoiled us nicely. Originally I posted a Facebook group so he would have something, and his friends took it from there. Thanks to the guys who organized, and hosted, and traveled, and in generally made for a fun night for the Soon-to-be Dad.

          As for me, my shower was also wonderful. It was nice to be surrounded by my friends who feel like family, and of course family ( didn't forget you Bev). And again, everyone was excited, and generous to our little man. Thank you all for coming and just making me feel loved...okay I may cry as I post this, so we need to move on.

        Jake has 2 Uncles, and 1 Aunt, and though they couldn't make it to the festivities, they surprised us with some special gifts for their nephew. Unlce Peter and Aunt Elanna sent a rocker, which I have been looking at for LONG before we were even trying for little man. So that was a nice surprise. Uncle Chris, sent his play pen which is going to be able to grow with him, and was something we were really thinking about so we were very excited for that as well.

        This morning has consisted of my typical nesting activities, as well as organizing all the gifts, and diapers. Yesterday point blank, we were over run by them, and I was beat, and refused to touch it. That being said, I took back my living room today.

        My plan today is to make a list of things we need to get still for him, and break it into two parts, what we need before he is here, and what we can wait on a little. This is causing a little anxiety, but I'm doing my best to keep that in control. The other thing I'm going to do is officially pack for the hospital. The stuff has been sitting on the change table in case of an emergency. I hit 36 weeks on Tuesday...basically anywhere between 37-39, they could induce me, so it's almost not in case of emergency anymore... it's more in case of necessity.

         I need to say thanks again one more time to everyone who has been supportive, and helped us with all the things we'll need for our little man. I really can't say it enough, and we can't believe how close we're getting to our lives changing forever.

         K, Luv Ya, Bye

         Nancy 

Pregnancy Post #12, Productive and Prepared

          I woke up restless and cranky today. That basically means I either need to be out of the house (last time I was was Sunday), or I need to be productive. Since I have stuff in the house I want to get done we went with option #2. We had a ton of Christmas stuff down, but not necessarily organized or packed away..it's done now.

         Where it was both of us home today, we got through some of the bigger projects. Cale is doing the cleaning that I can't do right now. But I had some fun, and was productive. I was straightening up all the bedrooms, and ended in Jake's. The most disorganized part was the stuff I was starting to get together for the hospital. I had a couple of lists given to us by the nurses at the hospital, and a couple ideas of what we might want kicking around from my two visits to labour and delivery, and one to make the transition for Alice a little easier. As a result I had put together my own list of things to pack. So while they're not for sure the items we're taking to the hospital, I'm 35 weeks now, so I want to have stuff set for in case of emergency. Some stuff is packed in the bags already, but the stuff that might change is clothes. The Change pad on the change table is currently home to the clothes and some items for all 3 of us.

        I'm the type when I'm going away somewhere I make a list, and a plan and try and pack super early. This is more exciting than any trip I've ever been on, so I've wanted to have this ready to be packed for a long time. While it's not, packed, it's ready, and I'm excited about it.

        K, Luv Ya, Bye
        Nancy

Pregnancy Post #11, Shower with my work Ladies

          I'm still on a high from last night. There are a lot of work places I've worked that claim they are a family, where I work now, legit is like family. I don't dislike any of my co-workers, how many people can say that? Last week while we were out an about I asked to stop in because I just missed my co-workers. As a result, the ladies I work with held a baby shower for me last night. I have another one this coming Sunday as well I'm seriously looking forward to, but it's probably good this was broken into 2 showers, this would have been insane to combine the two.

         I had such a great evening with my ladies. There was tons of food, laughs and they seriously "showered" me with some great stuff for our little man. We got some really cute clothes that I can't wait to see him in (for now I will wash them with baby detergent and smell them constantly), a couple things for the nursery, a specially made quilt for his crib, my breast feeding pillow, some cute little keepsakes and a few travel items. I'm seriously surprised I didn't cry last night. I kind of expected to, because I felt so much love. I wanted to share this in a post because it was just a very special evening, and the roads were not kind to drivers last night either.

         I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who was involved in the evening, and let them know how very touched we are.

         K, Luv Ya, Bye
         Nancy

Pregnancy post #10, Exciting morning!

          I had an exciting morning! I'll do this chronologically, not building anticipation. I had an appointment with my obstetrician, because of my gestational diabetes, they are going to keep a closer eye on me in the up coming weeks (I'm 34 weeks now). However, Jake is doing great, his heartbeat is good, and he's super active. For me the highlight of the appointment was when my doctor took a second to pay a little more attention to my lower abdomen. He smiled, and told me, he was head down now. I can't even begin to express how excited I am about this. The feeling was like the very first time I heard his heartbeat, and for me, that was incredible.

         I have to mention too, how amazing one of Cale's managers has been through all of this. She has made sure Cale can make it to all my appointments. He missed one, and it was just bloodwork. Other than that, she has done everything she possibly could to accommodate any needs we have when it comes to our appointments. She just had to cover more of them for us today, so I had to mention this. I don't think she gets how much it means to me, but I wanted to mention it.

        Well we were next to my place of work so I needed to pop in and see the fam jam. I mentioned how stir crazy I  had been, so it was so refreshing to see them all. I'm on cloud nine right now. I can't wait either, because my ladies are throwing me a shower this weekend, and I'm just so excited to see them all. I don't expect this to be exactly like our girls night (that was a little more wild I expect), but I'm crazy amped to see them all.

One of my co-workers took this, now they don't see me everyday, and can't believe how big I am 

        Here is something kind of cool too. So, I've been reflecting on the earlier days of my pregnancy, and when we were trying. I guess I'm thinking of this because I'm realizing how close to the end of the pregnancy I am. When we were trying, I had some down days, I was on chat groups, and one day some one suggested I check out Natural Fertility on Youtube. Then I spent days researching their channel, and just learning as much as I could. I finally had a game plan as to what I could do for my personal situation, and it was within a couple months, I was pregnant. That's the story in a nutshell, and it occurred to me, I never thanked them. So I did, I sent them a facebook message yesterday. Today I heard back. They were really excited about my message, and they asked to post it on their site. They also wanted to know if I would be okay with them reaching out to me again in a few weeks. So I guess they plan to publish some of my stuff I've been sharing here. Which is kind of cool.

        It's 1:30 now, and I have so much energy to do some more nesting!

        K, Luv ya, Bye!
        Nancy

Pregnancy Post #9, Okay, no, THIS is Nesting

        I think it's safe to say, NOW I'm nesting. Over the last 2 days, there has been no stopping me. I take on a room at a time. SO as of right now, my bedroom and my spare room, are as clean as cleaner than they were when we moved in. My hall is a little bit of an obstacle  course, but that is the next area to be handled. I'm kind of pumping the breaks right now though because I feel like the next 2 rooms are a little more to be handled with care, and proper products. Our Bathroom, and Jake's room. So right off the bat, there are a could things we need to actually do to our bathroom (caulking, and replacing some drywall near the tub). Also I know the tub could be vital in my recovery after childbirth. As for Jake's room, I feel like that is a no-brainer. It's my child's room, and while not right off the bat, stuff will end up in his mouth at some point. Do you have any products that you use specifically in your little one's room.

         Another thing I realized, how easy it is for me to go stir crazy. SO I'm off work now, basically I was having difficulty physically getting through my shifts. A combination of being pregnant, my kidney disease, and my diabetes...yup, the trifecta. As a result, I spent several days just resting. Then I got restless, and started trying to get some small things done. The thing getting me most restless was, I really wasn't getting out of the house other than appointments.

         The other day I went out and had a visit with two of my friends, and that seemed to make all the difference. I'm not a lump on the couch anymore...okay, not as much. This is what gave me motivation to get going one room at a time...unfortunately, it's for like 15-20 min at a time, before there is a break about the same length. I'll get there though. I know I have another event coming up with friends the next two weekends in a row, so hopefully that will keep my motivation up.  Only 6 weeks until my due date as of tomorrow.

K, Luv Ya, Bye

Nancy
       

Pregnancy post #8, What I would do differently in a Second Pregnancy

        It's a snowed in kind of day, I thought it might be a good time to do a blog. The grey skies have made for a bit of a lazy day. Not to mention we got up early to go to the diabetic clinic this morning. I think I mentioned in a previous post, my kidney disease kind of fights with my gestational diabetes. Well as a follow up, my morning sugars have been high, so I officially take insulin...as of tonight.

       Something I have wanted to do for a blog post is what I would do differently in my pregnancy... to this point. While my pregnancy has been "high risk" I can say, I can't really complain, it hasn't been too bad. Were I looking down the barrel of #2, I think I know what I would do this time.

         One thing I would do is contact the clinic I was in in the beginning, and remind them I was a higher risk in my previous pregnancy, and I'm going to need to start upping meds, and getting regular blood work. I would also have my multi grain crackers I love now, and have them on hand for my stomach...because I 100% had morning sickness, and it was without a doubt the worst part of my pregnancy. I would also try other remedies for my stomach, and have myself on a regular schedule so I could work around it, earlier mornings, and evenings.

         Another thing I would start in the very first trimester, is treating myself like I'm diabetic again. In my second pregnancy, my odds of having gestational diabetes again, is higher. I know when I started paying attention to it (y'know because I was diagnosed) I felt so much better.

         I would also accept my limitations a lot better. I've been too stubborn with somethings, and pushed myself further than I should have. As a result I've been exhausted, on more than one occasion.

         These are the things I can think of that I would do differently in round 2...but let's get through round 1 first shall we?

         K, Luv Ya, Bye!
         Nancy