The Blackburn Family

Only a few more weeks! I have decided June 11th will be my last day of work assuming this baby doesn’t show up first. I don’t really think this baby will be showing up early. Of course what do I know! He is in charge and he isn’t letting me know. I am still upset about having to get an IV when I get to the birth center. I am going to talk to them some this week about it so maybe I will be a bit more comfortable with it. I am hoping it is just one bag and then I am done, but I think it depends on how long I am in labor which really sucks. I don’t want a hep-lock and I don’t want them having to give me multiple IV’s. Having some thing stuck in my arm is really going to distract me!! I finally tracked down my pediatric records. Luckily I had them transferred to my family practitioner when I started going there otherwise I don’t think I would have ever found them. The nurse I talked to said there are 107 pages…. I was given Amoxicillin 11 times by 1980 so she is assuming I have no issues with Penicillin. However, I still don’t know for sure what I had an allergic reaction to in the early 90’s. What if I developed an allergy to it? I am still really nervous about getting it. I honestly can’t remember the last time I had an antibiotic. It very well could have been the time I had the allergy in middle school. I don’t really take a lot of drugs. Don’t trust them. So everyone say a little prayer that I don’t break out in hives during labor. I think that may push me over the edge.

There really isn’t much else going on around here. Just cleaning, organizing and preparing for the little guy’s arrival. I try to stay active and it was a really busy weekend so today I decided to just hang out and do nothing. I think I needed a day of doing nothing. I have another busy week, but next week should be pretty low key. I am hoping to get up to the pool at nights because I really enjoy being in the water.

Today I tried to get some more artistic maternity pictures. It didn’t exactly go very well though. I am waiting for my remote to arrive from Amazon so I had to have Casey take the pictures. I got one I really like. One that is okay, but I was hoping to get a few more. I want to try again next weekend. It is hard giving Casey instructions, but setting up the tripod and using the remote won’t be much easier. I will put the two I like below and my usual weekly picture.

Well, my luck was bound to run out at some point. I have had a very easy pregnancy and all my tests have come back perfect until now. I tested positive for group B strep. Boo. So I have to get IV antibiotics during labor and there is some risk to the baby, but it is small. In case you don’t know I have a fear of IV’s and I think I am more scared of the IV than I am the labor and delivery. Casey said by the time I get the IV I will be more concerned about the fact that my body is being “split in half”. Perhaps he is correct. I guess I just have to suck it up and deal with the stupid IV. My other issue is not knowing if I am allergic to penicillin. Mom is very allergic and I had a reaction to an antibiotic in middle school so I am trying to find out today what that was and if I have ever been exposed to penicillin. If not I want a skin test or something done first because I don’t think the time to find out is when I am in labor. Strep B can be pretty bad for the baby, but hopefully the antibiotics will help to protect him. I will have to stay at the birth center for 12 hours so they can monitor him. The midwife will also come to our house the next day to check him again. From what I have read most cases in infants show up within the first 24 hours, but it is possible for him to get sick later so we will have to watch him.

In other news Casey is sick yet again. I have managed to go almost 38 weeks now without getting sick. I have been exposed to so many germs, colds, stomach bugs, flu… I managed to fight off all even with my supposedly weakened pregnant immune system. I guess Casey wanted to try one more time to get me sick. I have a feeling he might succeed this time. I really hope I don’t get sick now because I know I will be miserable. I think we are pretty good proof that vitamins, exercise and diet affect your immune system. Not to mention not chewing on your nails and washing your hands. I try to limit my sugar and processed foods, take vitamins, probiotics, digestive enzymes, exercise on a fairly regular basis, get plenty of sleep and wash my hands before eating or after being out in public. Casey does none of these. I really think they all help to build the immune system and keep you from getting sick. At least they seem to work for me. Even if I do get his latest cold I have managed to fight off a lot the last 9 months!!

My other big decision is when to stop working. My original due date was June 9th, but I always knew that wasn’t right. So I had told my boss my last day would be the 4th. I decided this week to work the next week which will take me right up to my due date. I don’t really want to work, but we need the money and I have a feeling he won’t be early. If he ends up 2 weeks late I will have been out of work 3 weeks. So I decided to go ahead and work until at least the 11th assuming he doesn’t show up early. So now the question is do I work the next week? I really don’t want to work and I want some time at home to relax and do my last minute stuff, but I also know I will eventually get bored waiting for him. It is hard not knowing when he will show up. I have a feeling the 11th will be my last day. I am worried I won’t get any time to myself if I work the next week… although I could work a few days of the next week. Ugh, I hate decisions.

Full term! Well we made it to full term so no hospital for me unless something happens during labor. There isn’t much else to report on the pregnancy front. Not a lot of changes, just getting bigger each day. I am getting a little more uncomfortable each day, but nothing too horrible. It is hard for me to accept that I can’t do as much as I could a few months ago. I get tired much faster. I think my to do list is starting to wind down and I am trying really hard to not add to the list. Just a few more things and hopefully he will wait long enough to show up for me to get them all done. I should have nursery pictures soon!! Maybe this weekend…. still a few little things to get done. Who would have thought finding a small light blue or yellow lampshade would be so difficult! Here is my 37 week picture. While searching for the attic pictures below I came across some of my pictures from earlier in the pregnancy. Wow, I forgot what it is like to be skinny…. Seriously, I was shocked when I saw them! I can’t believe how big I am and I really didn’t think I was that big until I saw the old me. I hope I see her again one day.

Over the weekend we finally got the attic finished. Months ago we started organizing the attic, but then we decided to put up the radiant barrier and then the new HVAC units. So we have been waiting until all that was done to organize the attic. Oh and we also made an attempt to seal the attic while we had it all messed up. Casey would be very upset if I didn’t post some pictures to show off all the hard work we did. Sure he did most of it. Gary helped with the radiant barrier and Casey spent a lot of time pulling up boards to seal, but I helped a lot with the organizing. Yes, I was up there this weekend…. 9 months pregnant and in the attic. Casey made sure I didn’t fall down the ladder.

Here are the before pictures. This is when we first started the project and you can see we had already put up a couple of the shelves.

Here is the new and improved attic and our AWESOME new HVAC unit. I need Casey to post the details on it for everyone. He is now an expert on HVAC units if you need some advice and we have a company here in Raleigh that we love called Comfort Wizards if you need any work done let us know!!

I had my 36 week appointment this morning. We had to go down to the birthing area to meet with the midwife because she was on call and there was a woman there in labor. There was also one that had a baby at 1 am and we could hear the baby cry a bit. It was pretty cool.

The appointment went well. It was Casey’s first time going with me! He will be going to the rest of them and we have our next 4 booked. Hopefully we won’t need a 5th or 6th! He is still head down and she said she could move his head a bit so he wasn’t fully engaged yet. She also said that he feels long, but not too big. I think long is better than big!! She also said that he is in a great position. I apparently was having a Braxton Hicks contraction when I laid down on the bed (I was in the birthing room instead of an exam room). I didn’t even know it! I notice my stomach tighten sometimes, but it doesn’t hurt. At least not yet. It was pretty cool to see my stomach tense up and then relax.

In other pregnancy news I slept much better the last two nights. I think it was going to my exercise classes so I really need to make more of an effort to exercise some. I just get so distracted doing other projects and running errands all the time! I need more time! Or maybe I should stop coming up with new projects. As long as this little guy doesn’t come early I will have at least a week of not working before he arrives and I will have lots of time!

Finally I must apologize for not having a picture to post. We keep forgetting to do it and the weather has been pretty nasty this week so we couldn’t take one outside. I am going to attempt to remember to take one tomorrow, but I will most likely forget again!! Will my brain work after the baby is born or am I doomed?

First let me apologize for not having pictures to post this morning. Sunday was so crazy and we had our last class with the doula so it didn’t get done. I was planning to take them as soon as I got home from work yesterday, but as I was driving into the neighborhood it started to pour. So I promise to take some this afternoon and add them to the post so be sure to check back. I am debating on whether to try some more professional belly shots (with belly exposed) this weekend. The problem is I pretty much have to take them myself because one I don’t want to pay anyone and two I don’t really want anyone else to see the belly without some help from photoshop!! So I am wondering if Casey and I together can mange to pull off some nice pictures. I am not expecting much….. I have a hard time getting him to understand the camera. No offense, but he isn’t the best at framing a shot.

Last week was busy as usual and over the weekend I helped to host a shower for my friend Melanie who is due about 6 weeks after me! She is also having a boy and it has been so much fun talking with her about pregnancy stuff for the past few months. I have a few pictures from the shower, but I haven’t downloaded them yet. She is so tiny! She doesn’t even look pregnant and she is 30 weeks! What is up with that? Of course she is taller than me and has a longer torso so I am sure both those help.

I feel like the baby has grown so much just in the last 2 days. Either that or he has changed his position in there which is making my days much more uncomfortable. He is really starting to run out of room and I am getting to that stage where you just can’t get comfy anymore. Sitting doesn’t feel good, laying down doesn’t feel good and standing eventually doesn’t feel good although it is my favorite position. I have a hard time sitting on the couch at night now and working on the computer. Sleep is about the same. Some nights are terrible and others aren’t too bad. When I say not too bad I mean that I get two 3 hour stretches of sleep in before waking again and sleep soundly during them. Some nights I can’t go back to sleep and others I am waking up every 2 hours instead of 3! I have to admit I am pretty used to sleeping in 3 hours increments now.

I have been working hard in the nursery and should have some pictures posted soon. I am down to the last few things. I have to say my least favorite baby item at this time is the stupid bouncy seat! You can’t put that dumb thing anywhere. It doesn’t fold in anyway and I can’t fit it anywhere. It just sits there messing up the look of my room. I don’t like junk in my rooms. I want them to look nice and organized. I hide the junk. I can’t hide this thing! I also organized the pantry this weekend. This is baby related because I had to make room in a cabinet in the kitchen for baby food items and supplies. Plus the pantry was driving me crazy because it was so messy. I keep getting distracted by random projects like organizing the pantry.

As you all know I love my new glider downstairs and like to spend a little bit of time daily sitting in it relaxing. Unfortunately I have discovered the remote doesn’t work from the chair so I am forced to watch commercials and get up every time I need to pick a new show! I have been doing everything possible to keep JD off my chair. I put a stool in it so he can’t jump up on it. He isn’t the kind of cat to get on the arms or back because he is just too big and not at all coordinated. Well I came downstairs one morning to find cat puke next to his bowl and then a trail of it leading to my chair. Yes, he managed to find a very small area on my chair that he could get on and then puked on my chair!! The thing is he seems to have originally puked at the food bowl and then for some reason thought it a good idea to walk over to my chair puking, get up on it and puke some more. Needless to say I freaked out that morning. Lucky for him it wiped off nicely. Otherwise he would be at the SPCA right now looking for a new home. I screamed at him a lot and ever since he has left the chair alone. I did put an old blanket on it just in case he manages to get up there again. I feel bad for him though because I think he can tell things are changing. He clings to Casey a lot now. He can’t get to my side of the bed anymore thanks to the pillows and the belly. He looks at me some days like he isn’t sure what is going on with me. Once the baby arrives he will be kicked out of the bedroom which I know will be very traumatic for him. Of course with the crying he may want to get out. I feel so bad for all the animals since their time and attention will be dropping soon. Most of my bad dreams involve me either killing the rabbits, getting rid of the rabbits or putting them in cages or outside. This is clearly something that is bothering me! I also worry about my SPCA bunnies…..

I promise to add some pictures soon. My next appointment is this Thursday! I have to take in my birth plan which I am still working on and I really need to pack my hospital bag. I just keep putting it off because it scares me a bit. I am going to focus on getting all that ready this week. We should probably figure out how to install the car seat too! If I go into labor this week we aren’t exactly prepared!

I wish I had more to write today. It has been another busy weekend and right now I am so tired I can’t even think straight. I spent both days working like a crazy woman in the nursery. I did a ton of laundry and have just a few more to do. I am close to having everything put in place and there are just a few more decorative things to do in the room. I also ordered the bookcase this week, but decided on a different one than I had originally planned to get. I guess it is a good thing the original was out of stock for so long because I think the one I am getting is going to be much better in the years to come. I also wanted to get a bean bag from Target and thanks to my pregnancy brain I forgot to get it so I could get free shipping. It was a bad week for my memory! The whole week was just a mess of me forgetting stuff. Some days it feels like my brain just doesn’t work anymore!

I really want to get as much done in the next two weeks as I can so I can maybe relax a bit before his arrival. Not to mention my energy level is dropping a lot lately. I am also getting a lot less sleep so I am tired more often too. I think my allergies are adding to the current fatigue. The last two days have been hard on my draining which always make me feel more tired. This week should be less busy than the last two so hopefully I can get some good work done and also manage to rest a bit.

Note: I wrote this on Sunday, today is Thursday. I just now realized I never posted it. Pregnancy brain….

Thought I would post a quick update. I had my 34 week appointment yesterday and everything is looking good! He is still head down and she said his head was engaged. So I guess he is ready to go. Just needs a few more weeks to get fatter (him and me) and for his lungs to develop. The two things that would get me “kicked” out of the birth center are a breech baby or labor/delivery before 37 weeks. Looks like we are half way there. He could technically still turn and can turn anytime right up until he is born, but that is very unlikely. So now we just have to hope he stays put for another 2-3 weeks.

I am officially up 30 pounds! The midwife went over a lot of information with me this week on contractions and the things I will need to have on hand and bring to the birth center. More things to do! We also have to bring our birth plan at the next visit in 2 weeks. I really liked the midwife I met yesterday. It really isn’t much different than going to a hospital with your ob’s practice. You get whoever is on call. Some you like more than others and it is the same with the midwives. I hope I get one that I like on the big day!!

In other news the new HVAC units will be done today. They cost a small fortune, but are so much nicer. I am glad we decided to go ahead and do it now instead of waiting for them to break which could be any time. It really is a lot of work to install them and has taken 3 days. We found a great company and they redid the whole bonus room setup to make it work better. It is amazing how much of a difference we have already noticed. I will put some pictures up this weekend. We need to seal the attic and then we can finally put everything back in its place!

We are going tonight to get the car seat! Guess we kinda need it soon.

It has been a busy week! Another week of doing something every night after work. We decided to go to Charlotte Saturday morning instead of Friday night since we had too much to do before we left. We left early Saturday morning and his family hosted a lovely shower for us that afternoon. It was nice to see everyone and I know Casey enjoyed seeing some of the family he doesn’t get to see much. We got even more wonderful gifts and appreciate everyone’s generosity. Sunday we drove up to the mountains so all the boys could go down the zip line outside of Boone. I wasn’t able to go to the site because they told us it was a bumpy gravel road and that it wouldn’t be safe for an eight month pregnant lady. Valerie and girls also stayed back to keep me company while everyone else went up to do the zip line or watch. Yeah, I was a bit sad that we couldn’t go too. We drove back to Boone and walked around King Street and campus a bit until we got the call that they were on the way back. When we got back I found out that the ride wasn’t really that bad and I probably would have been fine. Casey said he was glad I didn’t go just to be safe. After the jump a few of us went to Mellow Mushroom for dinner in Blowing Rock. Everyone else headed back to Charlotte, but Casey and I stayed the night in Blowing Rock. I didn’t think I would want to drive home and work the next day after all the driving so I had booked us a room at an inn in downtown Blowing Rock. I really wanted to go to Kilwin’s where I used to work in college. We went to check in and decided to walk over to Kilwin’s. We got there 15 minutes after they closed. Boo. When we got up Monday the weather had flipped on us big time. Foggy, rainy and much cooler. We drove down to get some breakfast after checking out and then went over to check out the Shops on the Parkway. I stopped in the kids’ clothing stores, but after paying $1 for outfits at consignment I couldn’t bring myself to buy any new outfits. We did stop by Kilwin’s there and picked up a little ice cream and some fudge to bring home. Then we drove to Boone so I could get a little ASU outfit for the baby. The store I knew had cute stuff was closed until Tuesday! Denied again. So I have no cute ASU outfit for him. I will just have to pay twice as much and shipping to get one now. It may not be worth it! We decided to just call it a day and drove home.

All the gifts are now in the nursery which is a complete disaster. Check this out! This is really adding my current stress level….

Even though the mess is stressing me out it is nice that the showers are over so we know what items are left to purchase and I can start cleaning stuff and putting everything away. Now I just need a little more time to get it all done. In other pregnancy news I continue to grow and get less and less sleep. I still wake up twice a night or more. Some nights it is hard to go back to sleep! At least I am not in any pain when I sleep. No hip pain and very little back pain most nights. I am getting bigger by the day, but I still manage to get around. I just get tired a little faster now. It is strange because I don’t really realize just how big I am until I see pictures. I guess the belly just grows so slowly over time that you don’t really notice it. I sometimes forget what I used to look like before I got pregnant. Of course when I go to bend over or put on shoes I am reminded of the big belly since I can’t do either very well anymore. I also picked up my new chair this week! I love it. I took a nap in it the day we got it. It took JD about 5 minutes to get on it.

I am sure everyone is sick of reading this so I will stop for now. I may need to post more than once a week from now on! I am really hoping to get the nursery cleaned up some this week. I will also post pictures from the shower and the zip line in the next few days. There are lots to look through so I will have to do them another time. I am too tired right now!

Here is a picture of me from the shower which will be my 34 week picture.