38 weeks!

I love to laugh, and the fact that my husband makes me laugh every day is high up on the list of reasons of why he's my husband. With that in mind, I've been debating as to whether I should share my false alarm/funny diagnosis story from a few days ago ... while embarrassing to me, it is pretty funny, so if I can bring some laughter to random blog readers on an otherwise boring Monday, then why not? So here's the deal ...

When I was putting on Piper's shoes last Friday morning before school, I felt a bunch of liquid come out of me. So I sat on the toilet, peed, and more liquid came out after that. Well, I thought my water was leaking! So I called the doc, who told me to go to the hospital and get checked out. So Reid brings Piper to school to buy us a couple of hours for her, I set up her pickup with a neighbor, finish packing our bag, and then we head to the hospital, thinking we're going to have a baby. Pretty exciting, right? Yeah, not so fast.

I get there and I'm having zero contractions, which I think is weird, and apparently so does the nurse. They monitor me for a bit - baby looks great, still no contractions, so they do amniotic fluid tests to make sure it was actually a leaking water situation. Those tests are negative, which means the only logical diagnosis is incontinence.

That's right, ladies and gentlemen, my diagnosis was peeing my pants.  Awesome.

The exciting news is I'm 4 cm dilated and the head is right there so I'm hoping it won't be too much longer. Of course that being said, this little peanut has been quiet as a church mouse the last couple of days. I've gone from having several contractions a day to pretty much nothing. I guess it's the calm before the storm, but I'm ready to get this show on the road! And so is Piper. The poor thing left for school on Friday thinking she was going to see us next at the hospital, when she met her new little brother or sister, and here it is 3 days later and there's still no little person to meet. She was definitely confused on Friday and I can tell she's trying to process this whole change, but she has no idea what she's processing. She'll know soon, but in the meantime, Big Baby (what she's named her favorite baby doll) has been trying out all the baby gear that is now cluttering our house, like the swing, pack and play, etc. Based on the pushes Big Baby was getting in the swing this morning, this next kid is going to have to be one tough nut - and will likely go on to design roller coasters.

Interestingly, the nurse at the hospital was convinced that we're having a girl. She's one of the very few to make that prediction, but I would put her into the classification of "expert" so time will tell. As an FYI, her basis for this prediction was the way I'm carrying.
Happy Monday!

36 weeks!

Although there's an annoying shadow on this picture because it's dark outside, I feel like this picture is starting to do justice for just how LARGE my stomach is (at 36 weeks and 2 days). And as you can see, it hasn't come even close to dropping yet so we are well on track to make it to 37 weeks (full term) and probably then some. Woo hoo!

We had an ultrasound two days ago to make sure the peanut had flipped to head down, and it has. It's also facing down so in a good position for delivery, but a terrible position for pictures because you can't really see anything with it laying this way. No cute face profiles, no clear limbs ... but if it makes things easier later on then I'm all for it. It's the pics of this kid after it comes out that I'm the most looking forward to chronicling anyway.

Multiple times a day, Piper hugs and kisses my belly and talks about how much she loves her little brother or sister ... it's super cute and we just hope the excitement continues. She helped pack our hospital bag, which now sits in our bedroom waiting for go-time, and was excited to for the nursery to start to come together and to help pick out which sheet to put on the crib, which changing pad cover to use, etc. I had a friend with two kids tell me that having the first child make a lot of what would seem to us like meaningless decisions could actually be really important for her because it makes her feel like she's a help so I'm trying hard to include her whenever possible. Now if only she would all of a sudden become a napper so that I could take a snooze in the afternoon ... not too likely, but you can't blame me for being a dreamer! But since she is the energizer bunny, I'm headed to bed even though it's only 9pm. I may as well try and get some sleep while that's still in the cards because I fully realize that any night I go to sleep at this point could be my last as a parent of one child. Insane!

Easter 2012

I've been off bedrest for a week now, and at 35 weeks, I'm so excited that the baby hasn't tried to arrive again and that we've made it this far without too much increased stress. My house may not be as neat and tidy as I would like because I do have to take it very easily right now, but that's ok. With a newborn coming soon, it's not going to be perfect for a while anyway. Might as well get used to it now!

Easter was this past weekend, and all I can think about from the weekend is what a fun age Piper is at right now. We were in North Creek on Saturday to celebrate, where Piper fell in love with a giant bunny cake, and more specifically, red licorice ...

And then Sunday, before she was pretty much angelic in church, she had the best time exploring her Easter basket and finding eggs that the bunny had hidden around our house. She kept talking about the "silly bunny" and running back and forth to her Easter basket with chocolate filled eggs. Reid and I were laughing and enjoying every minute because she was in absolute heaven. So cute!

I can't get over how much of a little kid she is now. The baby fat has melted off, she talks and talks and talks, using ridiculous vocabulary and sentence construction, and simply put, she's always thinking about something. We never can predict what question is going to come out of her mouth at any random point in time. I think this is why she has a hard time just sitting and watching a TV show and why she doesn't love to be read to unless it's quiet time or bed time. She's so busy, so inquisitive, and I can't believe we're about to start all over with a teeny tiny one again in a matter of weeks. Looking back a year ago, she has changed so much ... last year, she couldn't say chocolate so she called it "choc-choc." Although many of her curls are now gone, and her mouse (Madison) has all but been replaced by Big Baby, her love of choc-choc remains. Here's a peak back at Piper and Easter 2011 ...