How do you say frustration?

Braxton Hicks Contractions. Every day since Saturday I've had moments where they start to occur fairly intense and regular. Most days it has been about every 20-30 minutes, enough to make you think that ok, while it's not active labor but clearly something is brewing. This afternoon at work, same thing, every 20-30 minutes for about 2 hours. Then on the way home I had them every 6-7 minutes. Alright!!!! We'll go home, have dinner and see if things aren't rocking and rolling in a few hours. Obviously since I'm sitting here typing this post, things are NOT rocking and rolling. I might have one every so often but really nothing is brewing. What the #$%^$??? I've reached the point where I'm like unless you're going to a productive contraction that's leading somewhere, please don't waste my time. With 11 days to go before my due date, I'm really not wanting to deal with this every single day from now until then (or after then). Let's get a move on!

I should say in full disclosure I am a bit clueless here even though it is my second child because with Katherine my whole labor really started with my water breaking. I found out later that I was having contractions off and on the day or two before but they were much lighter than the contractions I'm feeling now, in fact, I barely noticed them. Many have heard this story before but I went for a pedicure that afternoon, asked to use the bathroom right before I dunked my feet in the tub and POP! my water broke. Needless to say I did not get my pedicure but rather went right home, called the doctor who informed me that it was time to head in the hospital. So off we went, checked in to the hospital, where they verified that a. my water had broken and b. I was having contractions, though very light ones. I was admitted. One quick walk through the halls and that was it, we were off. So I never really had that early labor experience at home to know exactly that yes, it is indeed time. So I am being fooled each and every time. And as much as I don't like it there's not a thing I can do, the baby will come when it's time.

We've talked with Katherine every evening and she's having a fabulous time at Papa and Gram's house. The Easter Egg hunt was a huge success, the circus...not so much. It was too loud for her and they ended up leaving during intermission, similar to the Sesame Street Live experience of a year ago. I guess live shows are just not Miss K's thing. We hear that Aunt Carrie saved the day by bringing along bubbles to blow. Today she went to the children's museum and she reported that playing in the water and the apple tree were favorite activities. Here's a glimpse of the Easter Egg Hunt courtesy of the Ceiva frame.
She also asked me: "Mommy are you taking good care of my baby brother?" Yup kiddo, that's covered.

Labor Watch 2010

Has officially begun. After my crazy week, Ted's parents arrived on Thursday afternoon to pick up Katherine. She's up at their house all next week for the Fawn Lake Easter Egg Hunt, a trip to the circus (her first!) and I'm sure many other fun activities. The threesome will be back on Good Friday to celebrate Easter with us. I thought Miss K would be a bit apprehensive to go since she ask a couple of times during the week and on Friday morning whether I would be going with her. But instead she practically kicked them out the door when it was time to go, leaving little room for goodbyes. They called once they arrived in Virginia and she happily announced "I am Papa and Gram's house!" over the phone.

This has allowed Ted and I to have some time at home just the two of us before baby #2 arrives. I must say that as much as I miss the three year old antics around the house right now (is it quiet!) we are grateful for this time. Of course, I've spent the better part of yesterday and today cleaning since the opportunity was there to straighten up the place without a preschooler racing behind me messing it up again. Calling nesting if you want, I'm not sure I buy into that whole bit. Seeing that I'm usually on the anal retentive side of things, not much feels out of the ordinary. But if calling it nesting will bring on labor faster, I'm all for it. I can honestly say, this place is cleaner than it's been in a while.

I think because Katherine was born 10 days before her due date Ted and I are expecting this one to be early as well. I know there's no rhyme or reason to this but you can't help but think that things will go exactly the same way they did the first time the second time around, no matter how many times you try to tell yourself no. Add to that the fact that having the baby this week would be such great timing with Katherine up at Papa and Gram's house. This means that we spent most of yesterday and today looking for any little sign that things are underway.

How am I feeling? Ready to go. The pelvic pressure is definitely there and sleeping is pretty uncomfortable. My middle of the night bathroom trips involve me practically crawling to the potty, my back hurts so bad. I'm getting Braxton Hicks contractions fairly frequently and some of them are getting uncomfortable. Ted and I ventured out this morning to walk around a few stores (and hey if walking would get things moving we were all for it) and I had one in the middle of Kohl's that I swore was the real thing. I had another one in the car on the way home too and for a split second we were like "alright!" But they didn't amount to anything. I think we're in for a full week (or more) of putting ourselves through this.

Finishing up...

I'm in the middle of a very busy week at work. Yes, it's only Monday and I said in the middle because that's what it feels like. I am part of a very important meeting that has taken a lot of hard work and perseverance to get to this point. My big presentation was this afternoon and after I finished I internally let out a huge PHEW! It was one big stumbling block between myself and maternity leave and I'm happy to say that it's done. Not that I'm out of the woods yet, there's still mounds of stuff to do, a good chunk of which probably will not get done. I was told by one of my bosses last week not to worry about what gets done and doesn't get done, just enjoy my leave. But you know me, I'll feel much better going out with as much taken care of as possible. Right now I'm saying that this baby needs to give me until the end of this week, I'm hoping for some of next week too. With any luck, I'll luck I'll get that.

We had an interesting turn of events around here on Friday. I decided to take Katherine to the pediatrician to have someone take a quick listen to her lungs. The cold that she had the week before just seemed to be lingering and her breathing seemed a bit labored to me Thursday night. Better safe than sorry I figured. Katherine was not thrilled about this and told me very matter of factly and more than once that "I don't need to go to the doctor, I not sick". She was a bit teary eyed and apprehensive when we first arrived but she seemed to calm down when she realized that this visit wasn't going to be like any of the other medical mishaps she'd been through. The nurse practitioner listened to her lungs and declared them nice and clear. Then she looked in her ears and discovered she had an ear infection. Then she looked in her throat and declared that a strep test needed to be done because it sure looked like strep throat as well. Wha???? Other than the cough, this kid has had no symptoms of either; no fever, no ear pulling, no complaints that anything hurt her, nothing. In fact, she'd been quite chipper most of the week (puking incident aside). How could this be? But one positive strep test later, we were on our way to the pharmacy to pick up the antibiotic. Guess that cold wasn't a cold after all.

I supposed we're quite lucky, first time having an ear infection or strep throat in the kid's life (yes, we've somehow made it to 3 and half without either one but let me remind you of the medical odyssey that was age 2 around here...tooth incident, hand in tailpipe, lyme test...nuf said) and she hardly seems affected by it. Katherine has given us a little protest here and there over taking her medicine but she hasn't missed a dose. I don't think this stuff tastes all that bad.

Work threw me a wonderful little baby shower last Thursday and I need to get the pictures posted on our photo site. I also need to do a February/March album. Things have been so crazy that I don't think there's enough pictures to do albums for each separate month. Ted's work is throwing him a shower on Wednesday afternoon. They threw him one for Katherine except it ended up being on the day she was born so he missed it entirely. They were kind enough to call him at the hospital to let him know how good the food was. With any luck, we'll make it to this one. AND Papa and Gram Coberly arrive on Thursday to take Miss K up to their house for a week. So far there's an Easter Egg hunt and a trip to the circus planned. They'll all be back for Easter weekend. Will there be an new little Easter bunny in the house by then? We'll see!

Katherine's Hippo

She told me it is a hippo.


-- Post From My iPhone

Tell me NO will ya?

We've been fortunate that Katherine has hardly been sick at all since moving to the new daycare. But it's gotta happen sometime and that time is here. Last week she came down with a cold, spent one day home with Ted but overall not too bad. The cold has been lingering since then although she seems to be hardly impacted by it. On Tuesday I thought that things had taken a turn for the worse when I got a call from the daycare at about 3:00 to inform me that Katherine had started throwing up. Uh oh. So I threw some work stuff in a bag and raced down the highway to pick her up. When I arrived I was surprised not to find a miserable little girl waiting for me in the office. Instead she was very happily playing with her friends in her class. Huh?

Turns out Katherine did not have her "listening ears" on that afternoon and was sent to time out. This upset her and she started crying. Well she worked herself up into such a gusto that she started coughing, which led to coughing up cold junk which led to...well...losing her lunch. Jason, the director, said he didn't he bother to take her temperature because she had worked herself up into such a state that she was probably running a fever for that reason alone. By the time I arrived they had cleaned her up, changed her and she had calmed down. In fact, she was quite happy. They even said I was fine to bring her back in on Wednesday (unless she really did start running a fever) because they were so sure that the throwing up was due to her getting so upset and not really being sick. When I asked her about being sent to time out later that night she said "Yeah, I got upset." That's an understatement.

If there is anything funny about the incident though, it had to be the other kids in the room. As I've said before, there's no secrets among this set and they feel it is their duty (and they take a lot of pride in this duty) to give you the latest news as soon as you walk in the door. The second they saw me it was "Oh, Katherine's been throwing up....she threw up a lot...it kept coming." One little boy was kind enough to do a mock demonstration for me..."She went HUUUUUH!!!!!!" as he imitated someone puking. I think someone even mentioned the color of the puke to me, no detail is too small or too insignificant.

A similar thing happened the previous week with Katherine, except she never actually got sick. That time involved a game of hot potato in which she was called out and therefore not the winner. She was upset when we picked her up and I think our presence caused her to up the ante a bit in hopes of some sympathy (Don't these people know how to play a game? I'm always the winner!). Unfortunately for her our response was something to the effect of "Well, everybody needs to have a turn at being the winner." That and the fact that it wasn't the day to get a treat out of the treasure box (that's Friday) set her off. I carried her out to the car where the coughing and gagging started. But other than some cold junk she never really threw up and she calmed down by the time we got home.

This morning was a brief moment before we got in the car (We'll just say it is first and last time I let her watch Nick Jr. in the living room while eating breakfast, I've learned my lesson). She started coughing and everything but she was able to calm herself down rather quickly. I'm hoping we're not developing a behavior pattern here and that the coughing and gagging is really due to the tail end of this cold. Because she's in for a rough ride over the next few weeks if this is the reaction every time we tell her no or send her to time out. And we're in for a lot of messy clean up.

Rock a Bye Baby

I mentioned in a earlier post that Ted's parents dropped off a very special item during their visit last weekend. This is the cradle that Ted and his sister slept in as babies and this is the cradle that our soon to be new addition will sleep in as well. We didn't use it for Katherine as we thought the pack n play would work just fine in our bedroom. We had less furniture in the room then and Katherine spent about one night in our room before we moved her to her crib (wow, newborn babies are loud when they sleep!). I'm guessing that this one won't last too many nights in our room either but I think the cradle will come in handy for a number of uses. First, there is the early morning (and who am I kidding, mid morning, mid afternoon, early evening...), please kid go back to sleep, I am exhausted moments. Picture me laying in bed right next to it, one arm out rocking that thing back and forth. I used the bouncy seat with Katherine, which was not at same level as the bed so not as comfortable for me to bounce and snooze. This will be better. Second, this can easily be moved in our guest room so that the person pulling the night shift can feed and snooze without disturbing the other adult who is trying to get a full night's sleep. Can you see where I'm going here? As with the purchase of the recliner, we've wised up around here with number 2 and it is all about making things smoother for us, especially at 2am. Since opportunities for good sleep will be more limited this time around due to the 3 year old, we are planning accordingly. And some of this stuff (i.e. using the guest room) I didn't even think about the first time around. Live and learn.

Ted's dad (i.e. Papa Coberly) cleaned up the cradle and I think it came out beautiful. The quilt was made by someone in my office, given to me at Katherine's baby shower. I am ashamed to say that I hardly used it with Katherine, I plan on using it plenty this time because it is just gorgeous. I moved it into our room this weekend to take the pictures and Katherine noticed this right away. She mentioned that "my baby brother is going to sleep with you?" and I explained to her that babies wake up a lot during the night because they get hungry and that is why he may stay in our room sometimes. Her response? "This is going to be fun!" Um, yeah...

36 Weeks

We're in the home stretch!



-- Post From My iPhone

Going on Safari

Katherine's class is going on a safari hunt today and her fishing vest from Papa Meagher is the perfect wardrobe accessorie. The kids were asked to bring a safari animal too, so Tigger is joining her for the day. Check out this pose:

One month to go!

It's March 10th, exactly one month until my due date! However, I know that it really means the big day is anywhere from 2 to 6 weeks away. I know ful well there's no connection but since Katherine was 10 days early of her date, well...here's hoping this one is too! I'm still feeling great overall but let's face it, my stomach is getting quite large. I'm not exactly graceful in my movement right now, in fact a lot of grunts and groans are involved in the simplest of things such as getting in and out of the car, up off the floor and turning over in bed in the middle of the night. How ladylike.

Costco and Trader Joe's

I forgot to update that my iPhone was back in my hands, safe and sound the following morning. It was sitting on Annette's desk, right where I left it. All is right with the world.

So the weekend. It looks like Spring has finally started to arrive around here. I know our temps and snowfall aren't anything like what's been happening up North but it still has been an unusually cold winter around these parts and everyone is ready for a change. Papa and Gram Coberly came down for a quick visit (and to drop off a very special item that deserves it's own blog post later on this week) and Katherine delighted in having two very attentive playmates.

Ted and I ventured out Saturday afternoon to Costco and a first ever trip to Trader Joe's. Let's start with Costco. We were members of Sam's Club and I've been feeling the need for a change. Plus I've become a big fan of Costco store brand diapers and it looks like we'll be needing a lot of those in the not so distant future. Ted's parents visiting offered us a rare opportunity to head out on our own (although I am told by my parents that Katherine loves Costco, especially all the food samples). I can tell you with full confidence that it was the first and last time we'll go to Costco at 1:30 on a Saturday afternoon. Oh my goodness, it was packed. PACKED. We decided to just grab the membership materials, take a quick walk around and head right back out. Since you can sign up online, we decided we'll go that route and head back there as soon as they open one Saturday morning.

Since having children our whole shopping schedule has changed, we're usually through the store and gone before most people are dressed for the day. We've become quite snotty about crowds, traffic and stores that open later than 8am on a Saturday. When your kid is up and ready go by 6am you're looking for something to do by 8. And really there's no need in our mind for a store to be open late in the evening, especially when bedtime hits our house around 8pm. Funny how perspectives change. I also think we're still stuck in the mindset that you need be home by lunchtime for that all important afternoon nap. Katherine doesn't take naps anymore but her soon to arrive baby brother will. Why change now?

Ok, Costco down, on to Trader Joe's. Honestly, I didn't know a thing about the place and I was curious. I've heard random comments here and there about certain items being rather tasty, some of them in the chocolate category, so what's not to like? This trip taught me that, as with Costco, Saturday afternoon is NOT the time to saunter down the isles at Trader Joe's. I was able to gather rather quickly that the place was filled with organic type foods but unless I knew specifically what I was there for, there was no hope. I must say it was MUCH smaller than I expected. So if I go back, it will probably be on my own, at a different time of day AND with a list of things to check out. Any suggestions?

No Phone Home

In my rush to head home from a meeting with a co-worker in one of other offices today I left my cell phone on her desk. I realized this pretty quickly but I was unfortunately already in the turn lane to get onto the Beltline and there was no easy way of turning around. The phone would have to wait until the morning. My first thought was "Oh I'll call Annette (co-worker) and tell her that I'll pick up the phone in the morning." DUH! My next thought was that I'd email her and tell her the same thing. DUH! Without the phone, I wasn't doing anything. I couldn't even call Ted to tell him to pick up Katherine instead of me (allowing me time to turn around and pick up the phone) because DUH, no phone. No real option except to continue on my way and email Annette when I got home. So I'm spending the night without my beloved iPhone.

Now truthfully, the odds of me needing to use the phone at home tonight were slim. And really I have no pressing need to use it first thing tomorrow morning. I have no scheduled meetings in the morning so running up to that office to pick it up is no problem. And I know the phone is safe and sound right now in a locked office. So why do I feel like I've lost my right arm? I guess this is a sad statement on how dependent we've become on all this great technology. I drove very carefully on the way home with the thought in the back of my mind that if I got into an accident, there was no way to let anyone know. I'm sure I'll have the same thought in my mind on my way in tomorrow morning.

How to amuse yourself when you're 3

Kind of gives you a whole new image of Snow White, doesn't it?