36w6d

I was just surprised with a Baby Shower here at work!!! I was in total shock. There was food, friends, cake and a great time was had by all! Honestly, I have the best boss and co-workers a girl could ask for.

My grandmother is out of the hospital and back in the ALF. She is doing SO MUCH BETTER. I can’t believe it. Honestly. I went to the hospital on Sunday and was sad to see she wasn’t doing very well, still disoriented and not able to sleep. Today I had a 15 minute conversation with her over the phone! She was asking me about the baby, about Ace, about work, about everything. I wanted to cry. I am so thankful. I can’t wait to go see her.

Our life-long friends from Spain arrived last Saturday and they have been staying with us. I didn’t realize how much I had missed them! Elena is 28 years old so we have everything in common (except for her not being pregnant and all). I am so glad she is here. Her parents are here too and it is wonderful to see them all! Norman and I were supposed to go to Spain this summer because Elena is getting married on August 2, but obviously with our precious Nugget arriving that didn’t exactly pan out. But we are beginning to plan a trip to Spain for Christmas 2009 with my parents and my brother and his family. Sienna and Ace will be about a year and a half by then. Amazing.

As you can imagine I have been doing non-stop shopping with them and lots of eating out and sightseeing and WALKING. I have been so active this week. It’s great. Hopefully it’s moving things along down there. I’ll know more on Friday; I have my 37 week appointment.

I have been having a ton of contractions lately. They have been getting stronger and stronger, bordering painful. Nothing too painful and nothing regular, but definite contractions. I think they are bordering on false labor. I wonder if my water will beak soon? Will I loose my plug? How will I go into labor? All I do know is that I am ready. All we have left to do is install the car seat and we are golden.

And as far as what people say about babies’ movements slowing down towards the end of pregnancy – well not my Nugget. She is non-stop kicking, punching, elbowing, the works. You name it she does it and she doesn’t care at all that she is out of room. Which make for painful situations! I love it though I have to admit. I wouldn’t want it any other way.

36w1d

Just a quick update to say my grandmother is in the hospital but doing SO much better. One pill she was taking caused her blood levels to be wacky and apparently now she is doing better. She is now speaking coherently and you can understand everything she is saying. I haven't gone to the hospital - my mom is forbidding me. She says my abuela should be back at the ALF by Monday and I will go visit her then.

Thank you all for your thoughts and well wishes. I love you!

Here is a picture Norm and I just took now...I got back from getting my hair cut yaaayyyy. Though it sucks how fat I look, boooo. Those 30-some odd pounds I have gained are UNFORGIVING



A proper update to follow soon

36w0d

I am really down to the wire at this point and am more giddy and anxious than anything else. You know the feeling…it’s similar to counting down the weeks before a long awaited vacation or big event. I feel so overwhelmed and impatient. I want Nugget to be here now now now, happy and healthy.

Emotionally I am a wreck. My grandmother is very ill and I am crying almost every day. My mom had to place her in an Assisted Living Facility 2 weeks ago because she was in serious need of help with day to day activities. The deterioration she has experienced in these past 2 weeks has been mind blowing. She has Alzheimer’s so severe that it’s a wonder it has only recently been diagnosed. Any fool with access to the internet could tell me that she’s had mild Alzheimer’s for years now. I find it so ridiculous that her doctor never officially diagnosed her, despite my mother continually questioning whether she could have the disease or not.

Last Saturday, Norman and I went to visit her while my parents were out of town with my brother and his new baby and I freaked out when I saw her. I started to cry uncontrollably and got pains in my belly. I had never seen her look so terrible before. I said I though she was dying. I called my mom from the ALF house and told her. She said she knew how bad it was. I had no idea. She got bad so quickly. I visit her on Saturdays and the week before she was so much better. She is now to the point of being unrecognizable.

I had nightmares all last Saturday night and have been so distraught. I was supposed to visit her yesterday so that my mom could have the day off but they called her and told her she was so bad they were considering taking her to the hospital. My mom left work and visited her and thinks she is dying. She needs hospice. This is so awful. I just want to crawl into a hole and wither away. My mother is beside herself.

The thought of death and mortality overwhelms me. I want my grandmother to meet Sienna so desperately. I know she likely won’t even recognize her as her great granddaughter but I don’t care. I need her to hold on. She was always telling me how all she was doing was praying to God that he would give her life to meet her great grandchildren. Now she can’t walk or feed herself, much less form coherent words. Worst of all, I find myself staying away because I am too weak and afraid and get so affected when I see her this way and I feel so guilty about it.

So that’s what’s going on. I am still working every day and exhaustion settles in quickly. Last night I took a long nap when I got home from work. I bet I could have slept straight through the night if I let myself.

I am buying the last few things I need for my hospital bag this afternoon. Other than that I am pretty much set I think. My mind is mushy now.

35w4d

Introducing Ace Carter, my beautiful nephew!

Mom, Dad and Ace


Ace


Dad and Ace


My Brother, the Proud Daddy and Ace

35w0d

Wow. Well here I am at 35 weeks; our beautiful baby girl will be here in 5 weeks! I feel immensely pregnant and incredibly blessed.

And my nephew, Ace Carter, arrived this morning at 8:44AM, weighing 7.5 lbs, measuring 20.5 inches!! Both mom and baby are great and my brother is beyond thrilled!!! I cannot wait to meet him. I really wish I could have been there. I am anxiously awaiting photos and more news!

Last night I had the worst allergies. I had a rough time sleeping and now this morning I am having a hard time breathing. Nugget is likely compressing my lungs and the fact that I can’t breathe through my nose really doesn’t help! I feel completely breathless.

I have my OB appointment tomorrow and I believe I will be visiting him weekly going forward. I’m not sure when my internal exam will be – likely at 36 or 37 weeks. I will ask tomorrow.

We went to visit with the Pediatrician and I absolutely loved her. She addressed all of my concerns about vaccines and cord blood registry very thoroughly. She was so kind and genuine and patient. I think she’s perfect. I felt relieved. One item successfully checked off the to-do list!

I have all my baby shower photos on my computer at home and will be posting them this evening, so stay tuned!

34w4d

I am so exhausted. I am dragging some serious ass these days. I know the majority of the exhaustion has to do with the fact that I am constantly doing something strenuous, but these last 5 weeks are going to be hard on me, I can just tell.

Norman and I were talking about the things we need to get done this month. They include meeting with the Pediatrician (the last one we went to visit was waaaayyy to far away from home and work), installing the base of the infant car seat and taking it to be inspected, packing my hospital bag, finishing up organizing the nursery closet, washing Nugget’s bedding and other things (this is a never ending job since I have and continue to receive an overabundance of things!!), sterilizing all bottles, nipples, binkies, attending our breastfeeding class on June 25 (assuming I have not given birth yet), reorganizing the bathroom and kitchen to make space for all of Nugget’s things, etc…

Plus we are still organizing the spare bedroom. We are having family over from Spain on June 14 – they’ll be with us for a week. This means we have to wait to assemble the Pack n Play and bouncer chair until after they leave.

I am having all kinds of symptoms. My BH contractions are turning vile; I actually “Owww” and “Ouch” out loud. Sometimes I even gasp or get a little breathless. I get really bad nausea, mostly in the evenings. I also get bad belly pain and menstrual cramp-like pain in my abdomen and lower back, but it goes away too quickly for me to be concerned about it. As I type I am having some mild cramping associated with BH contractions and it is not fun. I got a mild leg cramp that had me jumping out of bed early Saturday morning but thankfully I was able to ease it away quickly and relatively painlessly. If I get diarrhea for whatever reason, I worry it’s my body preparing for labor, even though I know it’s technically still too early for her to make her entrance.

Oh! And I am so excited to announce that my nephew, Ace Carter, will be born on Thursday, June 5th. My SIL is scheduled and my parents are driving up Wednesday to be there for the birth. I am so excited to be an Aunt! And I can’t wait to meet him and for Ace Carter to meet Sienna Sofia!

In other news, I finally wrote out all the Thank You cards for the wonderful baby shower gifts I received. I am going to be putting them in the mail today. Photos coming soon I PROMISE!

14w4d

I just took some belly pics and can't believe how big I've gotten. My skin is getting itchy from the stretching already, especially my poor BBs.

I still have nausea, otherwise not much to report. I spend all day Sunday sleeping, I joked with Norman that I cooked the Nugget really well yesterday :)

I will leave you with some pictures of when my brother came to visit with my SIL for his birthday this past January 4th: