Taran's Birthday

Well, to give you a quick update, it's Saturday night, 5 days after my due date, and Benjamin has still not made an appearance. Thankfully, I am scheduled for an induction Monday, if he doesn't decide to get his rear in gear. Personally, I'm not holding my breath. But I'm all good, because my mom came late Thursday night (YAY!!!) and we're having a great time waiting around.

Actually, today we went to Lowe's and got everything we need to do two garden boxes and some landscaping in our backyard. So we're keeping busy. Actually, I'm starting to get a little freaked out, because all of sudden, there's no more time left, and I feel like there's still a bunch of things that I need to get done. Not for the baby to come, but just for real life to continue; like, do the laundry, pay the bills, etc. Oh well, it will all work out just fine, I'm sure.

Anyway, the real reason that I posted it that I wanted to put up the pictures of Taran's birthday before it got too late. The castle cake that I promised her did in fact make an appearance, but I will not say that it was my best work. In fact, there's no way that I would put this in my portfolio, but she enjoyed it, so that's what really counts. She was so excited by the cake and all her presents, that she just couldn't contain herself, as you can see. Anyway, I hope you enjoy, and I hope to have some good news in a day and a half. :o)

My Trippy False Alarm

Hey everyone, just to keep you updated, we had a false alarm Wednesday night, but that's all it was. I started having what I thought were fairly strong (couldn't talk through them) contractions about 7:00, or so, and fairly regular (5 min apart) so after we put the kids to bed we called the doctor, and went to Rex about 9:30. Well, they checked, and I was still only at almost a 2, so we walked around for an hour or so, and then the doctor checked again, but I was only at a 2, maybe a 2 1/2, and I just wasn't progressing, so about 12:45, they sent us home. SIGH. . .

I'm glad that I didn't have the baby, because it would have been early, and I firmly believe the longer you can keep the baby inside, the better (within reason, of course: once the due date is here, his lease is up!), BUT once you get to the hospital you think that you're going to come away with a baby. We got all geared up and excited, and then, nothin'. It really is good, because he's obviously not ready, it was just very disappointing.

Oh, but this was a funny part to the story: When we were discharged my doctor gave me an Ambien (sleeping pill) so that I would be able to relax and sleep until the contractions petered out. As the nurse was giving it to me she said that it wouldn't really knock me out, just get me relaxed. Well, since extra-strength Excedrin is the most serious medication I ever take, I guess it hit me harder than they thought. On the 12 minute ride home I started being unable to focus, and then was seeing double, and then completely zonked out. Jeff had to practically carry me into the house (no mean feat) and I apparently started spouting gibberish to our sweet neighbor who had come over to be with the kids while we were at the hospital. I don't remember anything about coming home, just leaving the hospital. I guess I should be glad that I don't have any real sleep issues, because apparently I can't hold my medication. :o)

Oh, I have been told that my last pictures of the horror that is my cankles didn't do them justice, so I took a comparison picture to let you know how NOT normal my feet/legs are. Now, in the spirit of complete disclosure, I should tell you that Jeff has better ankles than me even when I'm not pregnant (isn't that sad?), but they're not this bad! Anyway, it can give you an idea.

I am also including a couple of pictures of my puffy feet at the end of the day. As Jeff says, "that's just not right."

Well, I'll let ya'll know if anything actually happens, but as of right now, we're just waiting around.

Cankle update

As of today I have less than a week left, officially, but my kids never seem to be in a hurry, so we'll have to see when this little guy actually makes an appearance. My feet/ankles are so swollen they look they're blown up like balloons; to the point where I can only fit into my flip-flops (luckily, we live in North Carolina), and they still leave marks in my puffy feet.

Jarom told me the other day that he hopes that Benjamin comes soon so that I "won't be fat anymore, and look like the people in Wall-E who can't get off their chairs." Seriously, those were his words. I would be upset, except for that it's so true. So I just laughed hysterically instead. :o) Because I do kind of look like the people in Wall-E! I am so swollen that you can't really see "me" anymore, and it's really hard for me to get up once I've sat down.

I feel bad for the kids because this is their last chance to have me to themselves before the baby comes, but I just barely can stand to have anyone touching me. When they try to crawl into my lap I can deal with it for about 5 minutes, and then I need them to get up. Hopefully they won't be too emotionally scarred. I keep telling myself, kids are resilient, but how long does that argument work?

Anyway, I have an OB-Gyn appointment tomorrow, and if I have any good news I'll post that. Or bad news too, I guess.

Taran's birthday is Friday, and I have promised her a "Castle cake" with pink frosting. It actually shouldn't be too hard to do, if I can manage to stand up long enough to put the darn thing together. In my head it's really adorable, and I'll post some pictures of that if it turns out at all.

Well, here's hoping that Benjamin doesn't decide to overstay his welcome. . .

Let it Snow!!

A couple of weeks ago we had an actual snowstorm that gave us 6 inches of snow and a couple of days off of school to play in the wonderful white stuff. I was beyond happy, and really enjoyed the whole thing. Surprisingly enough, I also enjoyed the fact that it only lasted for about 2 1/2 days. I guess I'm becoming acclimated to North Carolina after all. Actually, if it would snow like this just a couple of times a year, once before Christmas, and once after, I think I would be completely happy with North Carolina, and never get those overwhelming urges to move to Chicago that I get every so often.

The kids had a fabulous time playing in the snow, although Kelcey and I called it quits long before anyone else was ready to go in. I was amazed at their staying power, especially because we didn't have any real snow pants or clothes for them. They don't even sell that stuff in NC, except at specialty stores. Jeff was such a good sport too, pulling the kids around the yard on our boogie board, since we also don't own any sleds.

The snow was actually too powder-y to build a snowman that first day, believe it or not, but by the second day, as it was starting to melt, it was perfect. We had to raid our neighbor's yard for enough snow, but it was lots of fun. I couldn't bend over to pack snow very well, but I was able to find stuff for the eyes and nose. All in all, we had a fabulous time, and really enjoyed the extra couple of days of vacation.

In All My Glory. . .Sort of

Well, faithful readers, I thought I should give you an update of my pregnancy, especially since I only have 2 weeks left. Ok, actually, starting tomorrow I will have 2 official weeks left. But whose counting? (I am!!!!)

There is a girl in our ward who is a professional photographer, and she was building up her portfolio of "belly" pictures. So she asked all the pregnant women in our ward if she could photograph them when they were seriously showing, and she just took some of me last week (see above). She's really talented, and did a great job job. Although I think it's fairly ironic to want to take professional pictures of me when I'm at my fattest.

Anyway, to let you know how it's all going, I am huge as a house, and swollen everywhere. I don't sleep well because I am up going to the bathroom at least 7 or 8 times a night. No exaggeration. Plus I have such bad acid reflux that I need to sleep on a tower of pillows to get my torso elevated. It's not as comfortable as it sounds. Or at all. As a matter of fact, I think one of the things that I will look forward to the most about not being pregnant is sleeping flat. My hips are killing me from sleeping wierd and from my joints loosening up. I literally waddle down the street, rolling from side to side. I look at myself, wondering how I can continue to get bigger from week to week, and yet it keeps happening. Oh, and here is a photographic illustration of my swollen feet and legs. First, the feet look kind of big, but normal-ish:

Then I lift up my pants, and you see the horror:

Believe it or not, this isn't even the worst that it can get. If I'm on my feet for too long, or even sitting without putting my feet up, it's seriously ugly. Well, ugly-er.

I wish I had some better info for you, but as of right now I'm barely starting to dialate, and nothing has changed for a while. Hopefully I'll have better news next week.