Random Updates/Comments

So, I've been logged into work for a good part of the afternoon, and I'm bored to tears with this project. Basically, the super boring content of information, as well as the enormity & complexity of it all...just make me want to go into labor today so I don't have to finish. Horrible, I know.

We are 36-weeks today, so I won't be hoping for labor until at least ONE more week, when the kid is considered "Full Term". Yahooooo......

In the last week we met with two more pediatricians (finally picked one) and had another doctors appointment. I am officially 1 cm dilated. Dave was hilarious. He asked the doctor..."What does that mean? What do I have? Days, weeks?". She just smiled and said that we should have our bags packed. Which of course we have started...but not finished :)

My next appointment is Thursday. Can't wait for that AWESOME internal again. Wow, those feel the BEST. There is absolutely no sarcasm there. She might as well have been reaching for the stars while she was checking me out because DAMN...THAT HURT. But, the best news of all, monkey is NOT BREECH anymore. He turned. I swear, I think he turned Tuesday night. It was the craziest feeling at 2am I have ever had. I almost woke David up because it was so freaky.

This weekend has been FANTASTIC (minus being logged in for work...which is more my fault then anything). We had plans for Saturday night, and then I fell asleep on the couch...until 8:30 AM the next day. I did move to the bed, but that was about it. It was the best night of sleep I've had in I don't even know how long. Sunday was great, full of errands and such...and today we went and had the Lyndhurst Fire Department check out our car seat installation. That was very informative, and I highly recommend it.

Today, I mentioned to Dave that I was going to go to Giant Eagle because I wanted an Apple Pie. He volunteered, and went to Baker's Square. They were out of apple, so he brought home PEACH and STRAWBERRY RHUBARB! It tasted like heaven in between a buttery crust.

OK. That was a good break. Off to figure out dinner and then back to work :)

List of What I haven't Done...

I have said that I would post the following, and I still haven't!

1. Pictures of monkey's room.
2. Updates from family shower in August
3. Updates from work shower in August

Yeah.... Here's to hoping I actually get that done. I'll keep "planning on it".

Pictures from Work Shower

These are the ladies in my new group! They threw us an awesome shower yesterday. More details to come, but I thought I would share this picture.

L to R: Jen, Ann (back row), Me, Bridget (back row), Tina, Michael and Christine.

34w3d

Danny is growing! He has seemed to maximize the space in my belly and has turned to hiding under my rib cage for more space. I'm actually physically uncomfortable just sitting at my desk leaning towards the computer. But every time I sigh in discomfort, he dances around and makes me smile. It's so worth it. He also seems to have reduced my lung capacity. Just sitting at my desk sometimes, I feel winded. Yikes!

We had an appointment today. All is well. Baby is doing great. I can't believe we're over 34-weeks! I have started to pack the bags and get things ready. It's quite fun. Of course I have lists. Should anyone expect anything less? Nope. I am going to take some updated pictures of the nursery when I go back upstairs, and maybe I'll even post them tonight.

For now, I'll share a picture from my family shower that was on August 7th. It was an awesome party at my Aunt Rosie's house, and again, we received a ton of stuff. I will post other pictures and more details soon...but I'm not really in the mood for blogging tonight. A bit tired :)

Gymnastics

I think Danny is trying out for the US Men's Gymnastics Team. He is just moving so much. It's is 100% entertaining. When I am at home and sitting, I just stare in awe as my stomach rolls around. It is the craziest/most amazing feeling.

We have an appointment next week, and I'll be anxious to find out if he is still breech or not. I'm not sure they will be able to tell me that without doing an ultrasound? For a while I thought maybe he flipped. Now I don't know. I sometimes think he is horizontal with his head on on my right side (looking down at my own belly). Because only on the opposite do I ever feel what is probably his hands or feet.

I wish I could invent a shirt that had a permanent ultrasound image on. it. That way, I could just walk around and look down and see the kid moving. Wouldn't that be fascinating?

Kidney's

There is a mystery about being pregnant. It appears that I can drink 8-gallons of water throughout the day, but my kindeys only seem to process that water between the hours of 10PM - 6AM. Yes, during this short sleeping span, I seem to get up and use the restroom 5-6 times an evening. I think I would be even more frustrated if each time I only peed just a bit. Nope, each trip it's like I've drank a 64-oz giant Slurpee or something. I'm actually awake enough to be impressed with my own kideny function.

I am hoping this is God's boot camp for night time feedings. Or for the lack of sleep that will be coming my way.

31weeks +

Wow. It’s been forever since I posted out here! So long, that Noreen actually emailed me and asked why I haven’t posted. No reason, other then L-A-Z-Y and BUSY.

So what’s new? Let’s see…going back a few weeks now, we had an extra ultrasound because our normally active monkey was a little less active. It must have just been the position he was in because clear as day, we could see him moving all over on the monitor. Everything was perfect, which we expected. I had just become so used to his swift movements that the reduction in movement came as a surprise. Needless to say, we received some really cool 3D/4D pictures of our little man, and one was a great shot of his face! It’s amazing that I can already see some Sherman & Shafer characteristics. I’m not going to post his pictures online because my mom asked me not to. But, if you’d like to see them and I haven’t already sent them to you, just let me know, and I’ll send an email along.

July 16th was our third wedding anniversary, and David broke the “no gift” rule by bringing me a beautiful bouquet of flowers. We had a low key evening and just grabbed a bite to eat out and stayed in to watch a movie. Last year, we were admitted on our anniversary, so the first anniversary of that experience proved to be a bit difficult for me.

July 17th was the first anniversary of our loss. So, that week was pretty challenging as a whole. We made it though. It was extra emotional because while being so sad for our loss, I am incredibly grateful for our little boy that is growing and active inside of me. Two very conflicting and overwhelming feelings. We took the day off of work and just putzed around running errands, washing cars, and making dinner together. The day itself went much better then I expected. The anxiety leading up to it, not so much. On Sunday, July 20th, we attended a Mass of Remembrance at St. Clare in remembrance of Angela with our families. This was very special, and meant a lot to have our families with us to share. My mom and brother Chris were in Florida and attended mass to participate from a distance, and then called us after. We are so lucky to have such supportive families.

Last weekend was my first baby shower. Holy wowzer! What a beautiful party that my Mother-In-Law and Sister-In-Law put on. We received so many gifts and books to start monkey’s library. It was so much fun to see so many people there. I couldn’t convince Dave to stay for the entire shower, but he did do his husbandly duties of helping his mom set-up (just barely) and then come at the end to say thank you and pack up the gifts. I spent the rest of Saturday unpacking the gifts and trying to get organized. Each day, I’ve tried to do a little bit more to make progress. I can’t wait until the room is completely finished! Once it is, I will post some pictures. This weekend, the plan is to put the rug down J and maybe (I haven’t reminded Dave yet) change the ceiling fan. Another task I spent the week working on was THANK YOU notes. After my shower, I think there were 36 notes that needed to be filled out and sent. One flaw is that I write A LOT. I can’t help it. It’s important for people to know how much I appreciate things. So, I was working on those in the morning before work, and then at night before bed. I am proud to say they were all mailed by Thursday morning! Yahooo!!!!

Next week will be super busy too…My family shower is on Thursday. We are really so lucky to have so many people want to celebrate with us, and I just can’t say that enough. I feel like I’ve done a lot of cleaning/organizing this summer, but nothing has prepared me for the quantity and space that all of the baby stuff is actually consuming. Lots more cleaning to do!

I’ll try to post some pictures soon. I’m feeling large and in charge, so this baby is no longer a secret (hasn’t been for a while). At his last ultrasound, he weighed in at 3lbs 1oz. Our little hef-a-lump. He’s in the 67th percentile. So, he’s not too huge yet. At our appointment last night, we found out he was breech. This is no biggie since we still have so much time left. It did explain why I always thought I was feeling his head…and I was right!