Yesterday, I popped an entire person out of me.  So, I may be out of commission for a few days.  I promise I will be back WITH PICTURES in a couple of days.

Who doesn’t love pictures of newborns?

8/5/10 :: day 273

So every second of every day now it feels like my stomach is ripping open.  I try to push the skin together so it doesn’t hurt so dang much but that doesn’t really seem to work.

Last night was miserable.  Our a/c was acting funny so it was really hot in the house and I didn’t fall asleep until 1 am.  So to deal with the heat I sat in bed watching me some Netflix and eating leftovers.  Yes, I know…I’m bad.  But that is the 1st time I’ve done anything like that since I’ve been pregnant.  I haven’t really been too much of an over eater since I’ve been knocked up.  Although my stretch marks may beg to differ.

8/8/10 :: day 276

Last night was rough.  With only 4 days left till my due date I am having more and more trouble falling asleep at night.  Thursday Night/Friday Morning I think I finally fell asleep @ 3am. And the night after that it was 1:30am before I zonked out.  Last night I think I finally fell asleep at midnight.

Last night I also had a bit of a sinus headache.  Which was really strange, because I haven’t been getting these since I’ve been pregnant.  Maybe one or two, but nothing like last night.  I wonder since I had a headache like I did before I was pregnant if I am going to go into labor soon?  I wish.  The combo of the sinus headache and just sheer un-comfort due to my massive belly really hindered me from falling fast asleep last night.  I think I finally passed out just due to exhaustion from my previous nights of very little sleep.  This morning I woke up with what felt like a hangover from my sinus headache.  I have no idea how to explain it except by saying that I still had a headache and my neck and shoulders felt like The Hulk tried to give me a deep tissue neck rub.  OUCH!

In church I felt like…blah.  For some reason I felt like I was about to burst into tears at any second, but I never did.  I think I was just worn out and not feeling well and my mind felt like I deserved a good cry.  I sure think so.  After church Derek and I both came home and napped for two hours.  That was sooooooooooooo nice.

Just a little while ago we decided to take a walk hoping it would force this baby out.  No luck so far. Since it feels like a bazillion degrees out, wrapped in a cloud of 99% humidity, we decided to take our walking to the mall.  Bad Idea.  I totally forgot it is Tax Free Weekend here.  School also starts tomorrow.  The mall was packed!  We did 2.5 laps and I was sweating bullets.  So much for keeping cool.

8/9/10 :: day 277

(12:28am) My stomach has the hiccups.  I love when that happens.

(WARNING! ICKY INFO) –>  I’ve been having “the squirts” on and off for a few days now.  I wonder if that means I will be going into labor soon?  Doubt it.

My iPhone app tells me that I am 98.9% of the way through my pregnancy.  I really hope I deliver on my due date or before.  I’m running out of shows to watch on Netflix.

8/10/10 :: day 278

Since 1am I have been experiencing faint BH contractions on somewhat of a regular basis.  They are just tightness, no pain, so I was able to sleep straight through them.  Last night was actually one of the better nights of sleep I’ve had recently.  When I woke, around 10:30am….thank you very much, I noticed the BH’s were continuing.  Still without pain.  So, I went on with my day.

(5:16pm)  A huge thunderstorm is just rolling into Memphis.  I mean huge.  I just started feeling a tiny bit of that pain stuff…yuck.  Leave it to me to go into labor on the night of a MONDO thunderstorm.  Lets hope that the pain I felt passes and Derek doesn’t have to risk life and limb to get me to the hospital tonight.

8/11/10 :: day 279

Today was a bit of a let down.  Our last doctor’s appointment, before my scheduled induction on the 17th, was today.  After waiting almost 1.5 hrs to see the doc we were told that I hadn’t dilated any more from last week.  The strange thing is that over the past two days I have been having BH contractions like crazy.  I know that BH’s don’t mean that labor is beginning, but I thought that they might at least help in the dilation department.  But noooooo!  Tomorrow is my freakin’ due date, and I can pretty much guarantee that will won’t get to meet this kid at all tomorrow.

The car ride home sucked.  I just closed my eyes and tried not to let Derek see me cry, but it was pretty hard to hide the fact that you are crying when tears keep rolling down your puffy pregnancy face.

As promised, here are a few more of my favorites from our maternity photo shoot with Scott Penny Photography.

Here is Derek practicing his father son bonding with our 1st child, Cohen.

Is he trying to pinch my belly here?  Maybe he was fixing my dress.

Remember when I told you about Derek’s Duck Lips?  Here they are….

Today is my due date.  And no signs of the bambino, yet again.  I know I will get to meet this kid in 6 days or less, but it’s just seems like the days are slowing down, and increasing in number instead of decreasing.  These past two weeks have been longer that the past two months of my pregnancy.

It’s like waiting for Christmas when you are 9.  You are old enough to know that you WILL get those presents under the tree, and most likely they are exactly what you asked for.  But, you just can’t resist the urge to secretly open one or more of those presents a few days early, and then re-tape the sucker so you mom doesn’t find out.  Which I totally did by the way.  One year the gift I unwrapped was a bottle of Gap perfume, and sneaky me I totally used the perfume (multiple times) and re-wrapped the gift day after day.

I have no clue if my parents ever figured it out.  I’m assuming they didn’t because they never called me on it, but if they had gone all CSI on the wrapping  paper’s butt they may have noticed a tiny shred of evidence.  I mean you can only remove Scotch Tape so many times before the paper starts talking.  How cool would it have been if my dad, while inspectigaiting the package, took an awkward yet graceful stance and slowly, but in a know-it-all fashion, removed some sweet shades like Horacio Caine and rattled off a line like “It looks like someone left their scent all over this one” ?  Pretty freakin’ awesome, I tell you.

I just have no patients when it comes to waiting for something that I am expecting.  And a baby, well that’s a pretty big gift under the Christmas tree.

Last Wednesday, at our weekly trip to the OB, we were told that I was only dilated 1 cm which meant no induction for this girl anytime this week….Boo.  But we did get to see the little man in an ultrasound.  My doc wanted to check in on the kiddo to make certain he’s not Hulking up too much in my comfy, cozy womb.  He’s not.

One thing that Derek and I noticed right off the bat is that he is EXACTLY like his daddy.  Please let me explain.  My husband makes this face that I like to call his Duck Face.  This is where Derek purses his lips when he approves of something, or is lost in a delightful daydream.  Not that kind of delightful daydream…ewwww….get your nasty minds out of the gutter.  The other kind.  You know the ones with purple unicorns and fluffy clouds made out of cotton candy.  That kind.  Duh!

So, Derek makes this face….

As we gazed at the ultrasound screen last Wednesday I chuckled to myself and patted my man on the face.  “He’s just like you, babe.  He’s making the Duck Face!”  Derek proudly smiled and nodded.

Oh!  Did I mention….he has hair!  This little boy ain’t gonna be bald like his momma was.  No sir.  I barley had hair until I was like 3 years old.  No bueno.

Update (November 8th, 2010)

Welcome Spearmint Baby Readers! Feel free to look around, and bookmark me if you like what you see.

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Update (October 22, 2010)

I wrote this post a while back, and figured I would submit this post for the “Show Us Your Life – Children’s Rooms” week on Kelly’s Korner instead of rewriting it.  Enjoy!

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All Done!  The nursery that is.  The baby….well that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight.

But back to the nursery.  Over the past few months, pretty much the past 8 months, I have been working my little tushy off trying to make the perfect resting spot for the bambino, and I have to say I am quite proud of myself.  I love good design, but always feel that I fall short when it comes to bringing a room to it’s full potential.  Although, if I had the money, there are a few things that I would have done different.  I think that this is my favorite room in our house.  Even the dogs like hanging out in here.

This is what the room looked like when Derek 1st purchased the house.  Yowza!  Believe it or not it was a 6 year old little boy’s room.  Yeah….me too.

Then our good friend Amy moved in and the room blossomed into this….

After Amy moved out we converted the room into a guest room/crafting area that I barely have photos of.  This is all I could find.

Guess I forgot to take pics.  Oh well.  Too late now.

Then just before Christmas we found out that we were expecting, and demo (a.k.a. – wallpaper removal) began.

After the demo portion of the room revamp was done we needed to decide on what style we wanted the room to take on.  We really like the bright whites and clean fresh look of the MOD style.  So that’s what we went with.

First we found the bedding.  I am a huge fan of Dwell Studio, and although they have a great selection at Target I fell deeply in luv with another one of their designs that unfortunately is NOT for sale at the bullseye retailer.  So my big splurge on the nursery was the crib bedding.  Hey, you can’t stop true love.

Once the bedding was decided upon I knew exactly what mobile I just had to have.  This mobile is a Flensted mobile that I order from Amazon.  I just couldn’t resist those sweet sheep.

For his changing table we didn’t want to go with the typical changing table for two reasons (1) what do you do with a changing table once the kid grows up?  stick it in the attic?  and (2) we already had a perfectly good piece of furniture that could double as a changing table and provided hidden storage….score!

So in effort to reduce costs and not having to find a new location for the Pottery Barn Channing Buffet we had in the nursery prior to it becoming the nursery; we converted the buffet into a sleek and stylish changing table.  However, we may no longer want to serve food from this buffet after it serving up poop and pee for the next 2 years.

Over the changing table Derek hung some inexpensive floating white shelves we picked up on the cheap at Target.  I spray painted some old frames we had just lying around and filled them with some homemade artwork.  Some of the artwork I created in Photoshop, and the other is just cute craft paper I already owned.

See that owl?  Precious right?  My friend Sarah found it on Etsy.  It matches the room perfectly.  Okay, so there is one piece of art over the changing table that I didn’t make, and that’s the silhouette of the German Shepherd.  I found this awesome piece of art at the Mod Dog Etsy shop.  We love GSD’s around here.  Bet you would have never guessed that.  For that reason, I thought it would only make sense to start the G-man out on the right paw foot.

As for the wooden toys on the shelves, I scored the hippo and fawn natural wood teethers at the Little Alouette Etsy shop and can’t wait for Grayson to sink his gums into them.  And the elephant, giraffe, and sheep … well I picked them up from Oompa.  Stealing an idea from the kiddos at Young House Love I intend to mount the little guys hospital bracelet in the  currently empty frame sporting the bright blue background.

All of the little man’s pacifiers seem to all be beautiful blues, greens, and whites, so I thought it would be fun to make them part of the room’s decor.  I got this idea from my friend Sarah.  She did something like this at a shower she threw for me a few months back.  PLUS!….it provides easy access to a key baby soothing tool.  I used a glass canister that we owned from our wedding.  We used it to hold candy at our sweet (pardon the pun) candy bar.

See that shadow box?  Pottery Barn Outlet…thank you very much.  That’s a pillow case inside.  Clever, I know.  I just printed out a G in one of my favorite fonts….American Typewriter, and added one of our baby shower invites.  Over time I plan to add keepsakes from our little guy’s life.  Maybe a cap from the hospital, foot prints, a picture of him and his puppies?  Who knows.

The robots are my creation.  I know they aren’t anything special, but they help complete the corner.  I didn’t want the walls to be too busy, and I think the simplicity of the white frames and gray robots give the walls that something extra.

For the closet, we have the usual clothes and storage, but on the middle shelf I have a basket for bibs and burp cloths for easy access.  Next to that I placed a few of his swaddling blankets and hats.  Just in case I need something on the fly.  This way I don’t have to go digging through the huge drawer of blankets and other misc items when I have a screaming kid on my hands.  See that blue bucket on the floor of the closet?  That’s his hamper.  I wanted something easily cleanable.  You know baby poop and barf….it gets all over everything.  Yuck!  I also wanted it to have a bit of style too.  BTW…it’s bigger than it looks.

As for the flooring in the room, we went with FLOR tiles.  We hunted around for quite some time trying to find something affordable yet stylish.  We hit up Home Depot, Lowe’s, Pottery Barn Outlet, and a few other places.  Not to mention I dug around on Overstock.com and other online retailers, but alas nothing.  Finally, I took a peek at FLOR.com.  Believe it or not, FLOR has some quite affordable carpets.  We decided to go with the Cream :: Easy As Pie.  I couldn’t love it more.  A great thing about modular flooring is that if one tile gets stained beyond repair you can just order one new tile and forgo the cost of replacing the entire carpet.  And we all know how messy kids, and dogs can be.

So what do ya’ll think?  I’m also hoping that if the next one is a girl I can just modify the design a smidge.  Any suggestions on what we should add to the shadow box?  Did I do okay?

I want to be like the big dogs on the blog block, so I thought I too would add me a little source/cost list of our room makeover.

Crib :: gift from my parents (Walmart.com)
Soy bean mattress :: gift from Derek’s parents (Walmart.com)
Window treatments :: gift from Derek’s parents (Target)
Shadow box :: already owned (Pottery Barn Outlet)
Artwork :: I whipped this up in Photoshop & owned the paper
Changing table :: already owned (Pottery Barn Outlet)
Carpet tiles :: $105 (FLOR.com)
Chest of drawers :: $100 (Target)
Glider :: $75 – (Babies-R-Us) * remainder paid for by gift cards/coupon*
Floor lamp :: $99 (Target.com)
Shelving :: $10 each (Target)
Dog silhouette art :: $20 (Mod Dog Etsy shop)
Crib bedding :: $320 (Fawn & Forrest) * free crib sheet and weekend tote w/ purchase*
Table lamp :: $10 (Target)
Large green bins :: $15 each (Target)
Small green bin :: $10 (Target)
Mobile :: $33 (Amazon.com)
No VOC Paint :: $40 (Sherwin Williams)

If there is something that I didn’t list and you want to know where I got it from just leave me a comment, and I’ll let you know.

7/29/10 :: day 266

So yesterday was an exciting day for me.  I went in to see the doc for my weekly exam and low and behold I am officially beginning to dilate!  Woo Hoo!  Nothing too major just 1/2 a centimeter, but progress is progress.  I asked about my effacement and he said I was at about 50%.  That was nice to hear too.

My doc said that if next week I have dilated to 1.5 to 2 cementers then we can schedule an induction BEFORE my due date!  NICE.  If not then we will have to wait until my due date, and schedule an induction (in case I don’t pop on my own) for 3-5 days after my due date.  I asked if he is going to make me wait up to two weeks after my due date and he said no way.  I about jumped off that table and gave him a thank you hug, but then remembered I was 1/2 naked under that thin piece of pink paper draped over my legs.  Can you say awkward?

My doc suggested to start walking so we can force this baby out of me.  So that’s just what me and my patient hubby did when we got home.  Well, I more waddled and he walked.  Seriously though, walking sends shooting pains into my you-know-where area.  I guess that means it’s doing something in the progression department.

A few days ago I ordered a waterproof mattress pad from Walmart.  I am not about to let my water break in bed.  I refuse to sleep on a mattress that has that kind of nasty all over it, and I cannot afford a new mattress right now.  So, a quick $15.00 fix it was.  I know you are asking and concerned about Rufus (the car).  Towels will be placed in my seat for the duration of the next two weeks to prevent that kind of nasty happening as well.  Have I mentioned that my bellybutton STILL hasn’t popped out?  Cuz it hasn’t.  I know not everyone’s pops out, but I thought that by now I would at least have something.  That’s okay with me.  I guess my bellybutton was a super deep inny.

7/30/10 :: day 267

Today is my last day as a working gal.  I’m going to miss riding to and from work with Derek everyday and having the opportunity to get my Derek fix everyday at lunch.  I will miss my friends and co-workers….just not the work part.  That answer may change in a few months, but they said that they would take me back if I wanted to go back.  It’s nice to know that I will be missed for my work.

7/31/10 :: day 268

(7:02pm) I’m getting sharp pains down the interior of my right leg, right down to my knee.  I hope this kid is just hitting a nerve as he wiggles around in there.  Because he is really wiggling right now.

Earlier today our friend Scott came over and took some maternity photos for us.  I’m really excited to see the final results.

(9:44pm) Just woke up from a nap and getting ready to head back to bed.  Yippee!  Oh, the joy of having nothing to do. Derek and I had a long day, or at least I did.  After my stint at being a super “maternity” model, lunch with the hubby, and going to the movies I am pooped…hence the nap.

Now my tummy is itchy.  It’s not dry…trust me.  Ever since I started noticing a few of those nasty, stupid, ugly, poopy stretch marks on my tum tum I have been lubing that bad boy up every chance I get.  Which reminds me….

8/3/10 :: day 271

(7:13am)  I awoke this morning with my right arm in a weird state.  You know the feeling when your leg or arm is just about to or is just coming back from fall asleep?  It kind of starts throbbing and a few or a lot of pricklies start fluttering through that limb.  That is how my right arm has felt for the past hour.  I really want to go back to sleep, but this arm is bugging me.  If it doesn’t get better by noon I’m gonna call the doctor.  I even tried getting up out of bed and walking around the house, but no luck.  I think I’m going to try and take me a cat nap and see if it doesn’t fix itself.

Okay, so this is pretty much how my stomach feels all day…sore.  It’s sore so frequently now that I can’t really tell when I’m having BH contractions, because it feels like one giant BH contraction.

I am constantly on the look out for that PLUG of nasty.  Seeing that, I feel, may give me some hope that something may happen sometime soon.  My due date is only 9 days away, but to Derek and I it feels like an eternity.  We are both so ready for the little guy to get here, but still in disbelief that we are about to become parents to an entire human.  That’s just crazy talk.

Right now I use a pillow and sometimes Grayson’s Boppy pillow to hold up my stomach when I sit up.  This big ole’ thing hurts when it’s just dangling there.

(6:13pm)  I just finished eating dinner and this little guy is kicking away.  Just a minute ago I had my MacBook on my lap keying up a blog post, and the kid just about kicked the computer off my lap.  I have another doctor’s appointment tomorrow and I would love to see some progress in the dilation department so me and the boyfriend (for some reason I never stopped calling him that even after we got married) are going on a walk.  I wanna make this kid D-R-O-P!

*side note: I noticed another blogger calls her husband her boyfriend too…Katie Bower…I don’t feel like such a dork now for doing so*

8/4/10 :: day 272

I finally got to sleep in today, and it was glorious!  Even though I prayed for a significant change in my dilation I was only answered with .5 cm.  I guess that’s better than nothing.  That means that I am now officially 1cm dilated.

At our doctor’s appointment today we discussed induction.  Since I am only 1cm dilated we will NOT…I repeat will NOT be inducing on August 10th like I had hoped.  We now have an induction date set for August 17th.  Boo!  That is like 2 friggin’ weeks away.  Are you kidding me?!

I know the best thing to do is to let this little guy come on his own, but it is really hot here in Memphis and our AC is acting up, and I can barley go to the bathroom without assistance from my ever-so-understanding hubby.  I’m not kidding on that one.  It’s a huge pain in the hiney.

At my appointment today they did an ultrasound to see how big our little guy is, and during the entire ultrasound he kept pursing his lips like a duck.  This leads me to believe that he is going to be just like his daddy.  Derek is notorious for pursing his lips.  I like to call it his duck face.  We were able to see some hair floating around in the fluid, and his eyeball.  I’m so happy to see he has at least one of those.  It’s pretty hard to see things without eyeballs.  The strangest thing we found out today at the doc’s was that I have more than the average amount of amniotic fluid.  I have heard of women having to little, but never too much.  My doc said that is why my stomach is getting as big as it is.  That’s just like me to have something out of the ordinary, but good/strange out of the ordinary.  I mean how does someone end up with too much fluid.  Am I drinking too much water?  Maybe too much milk?  I drink about a gallon of milk a week.  Okay, maybe 3/4 of a gallon, but I really do drink a ton of the stuff.

My BP is awesome….112/76.  Take that pre-eclampsia!  Oh, and I only gained .5 lbs this past week.  Go me!

Have I mentioned how often I pee?