as promised

I'm posting some pictures from the past few weeks. Some of the shower and of the nursery, mostly. I look like an enormous cow in most of the shower photos, so the ones of me and Jay (where I look the cow-iest) will not be seeing the light of day. You'll see in the belly shot of me that I've officially outgrown my maternity clothes, which now barely cover my belly. This has happened literally overnight. I'll be 35 weeks tomorrow, and I can't imagine how much more room there is in there for her to grow. Not a lot, I would guess. I can feel that she's cramped. I've been going weekly for my non-stress tests and everything is progressing fine, although they keep warning me to be prepared to go into labor at any point, particular after 37 weeks. I've learned in this experience that the OB practice I use is VERY cautious. I don't think I'm going to go into labor in the next two weeks, but I guess it's nice to have had 6 people tell me what to do in case I do.


It's been a not-so-fun few days at the Smalley household, as our basement flooded on Thursday because we've been having terrible rain storms and our crazy (to put it nicely) landlady hasn't taken care of it. She is blaming it on the City because she thinks that the city sewer line that runs parallel to the house is backing up (which it is, the street floods every time it rains) and she wants the city to come take care of it, which they are just NOT GOING TO DO. And there's no use sitting around with sewage molding in your basement just because you want to prove a point to the city. They don't care. Hire a &*%$^#*! private company to come fix it and then have it be done with. You can file a claim with your homeowners insurance. Oh wait, you can't afford the deductible? Not my problem. You shouldn't own a home and be a landlord then. If she didn't live directly above us and I wasn't 9 months pregnant and in no position to move, I'd call the Department of Public Health on her. We've had no hot water since Thursday, and there is still sewage and water in the basement. All of my non-maternity winter clothes are ruined, most beyond repair (even with a good dry cleaning), and my good furniture I've had since I was a child is damaged, but seems salvageable, at this point. Our dryer is ruined (that our landlady uses, as well, but I guess it's OUR responsibility to replace) and the hot water heater needs to be replaced. She was supposed to have someone come and pump out the water this weekend, but they never showed, and while it's slowly draining, there is a layer of shit (pardon my French) covering the floor. Being 9 months pregnant, there's not much I can do about it myself, and Jay's been working doubles Wednesday - Friday so he's not around either. My patience is wearing thin. It's very distressing not to be able to take a warm shower for the fourth day in a row, and to have no access to laundry. I'm going to hit a laundromat this week, but it's enough to make me want to just cry. Ugh.


Anyway, on to the glimpses of happier moments (and I know these bad ones, too, shall pass):

so sorry . . .

for the lack of updates. Things have been very busy and my energy level has taken a drastic nosedive. It's been a bit stressful trying to get my work life in order for the baby, so I haven't felt much like stepping foot near a computer once I get home.

We had a WONDERFUL baby shower on the 12th that I can't say enough about. It was wonderful to have my Mom and my friend Sue up from Maryland to celebrate with us, and Jay's Mom and grandmother did an awesome job with the decorating, the food, the games, EVERYTHING. We had a great time, and I highly recommend going to the Jack and Jill route -- it made it much more fun to have everyone there together, and the guys didn't seem to mind too much sitting through the present opening.

Everything was fine at the doctor's office last week, and my first NST went well -- the baby was SUPER active, which made them very pleased. I go back again this Friday for another one, and that will continue until she's born.

My doctor told me on Friday to prepare for her to come anytime after about 37 weeks -- which is only three weeks from now!!! As much as I love her and want to meet her, I don't think I'm quite ready for her to make an appearance in three weeks, but I guess I have to get used to the idea. We've got the nursery almost set up (I'll attach pictures soon), and I think we're pretty much as ready as we'll ever be, to be honest. Three weeks is just so close! I think she'll hang out a bit longer, but we'll see!

Hope all is well with everyone. I promise I'll get pictures up as soon as I can.

"it's not the heat, it's the humidity"

So as much as I complained about the cold when I was first pregnant, I must say this heat is a thousand times worse. See exhibit A, my swollen feet and ankles: I know, it's gross, and I have no shame for posting it. The picture was taken with my swollen hands, which are so filled with fluid they actually ache, making it difficult to even make a fist. Swollen feet are hard for me, because they are basically the one body part I really like (or at least don't have a million issues with). I keep doing what they say and drink tons of water, but it is getting increasingly more cumbersome to have to get up and pee every 10 - 15 minutes (and this is not an exaggeration in any way, shape or form) that last night I finally said forget it and didn't drink anything for the final hour and half before I went to bed. I STILL had to pee every 15 minutes until I went to bed, but then only got up 3 times at night as opposed to the usual 4 or 5. It's getting embarrassing, since Jay is now having to help hoist me up off the sofa from a seated position. The bowling ball belly is getting bigger and bigger!

We had a great 4th down in Plymouth, although the weather didn't hold for a beach day, and the next morning we went to go watch Jay's brother Adam compete in his first half-ironman triathlon. He did amazing! He finished around 5:45 if I remember correctly, and looked relaxed and happy at the finish line. He's racing a full Ironman in Florida in November. See exhibit B:

We've spent the week so far getting ready for our weekend visitors. This morning we met with a pediatrician we really liked, so it feels nice to have that out of the way. He was very practical and mild-mannered, and the office was splattered with tons of pictures of Red Sox players and Patriots players, which made us smile. He was ranked one of the top 10 pediatricians in the city last year by Boston magazine, so we feel lucky he's still accepting patients. Our next baby appointment is next Friday, when I have my regular (now at two-week interval) check-up and my first NST (non-stress test). I'm looking forward to that, as I'll spend a half-hour or so strapped to a few monitors listening to her heartbeat, which is my favorite sound.

All in all, a good week, despite the 90+ degree heat and humidity. We're looking very forward to the baby shower on Saturday and seeing our family and friends all together in one place. I'll take lots of pictures to show off next week. Until then,

coming 'round the bend

What a jam packed week! Jay's been working a lot, as usual, and I took some time off during the week (I have use-it-or-lose-it vacation days I can't save for maternity leave) and did fun things like get a haircut, take Etta to the vet and hit the RMV. Then we had a bit of a scramble with the crib we'd picked out and registered for - I got an email Thursday morning that the crib had been recalled because slats had come loose and caused injury and strangulation. Yikes. So we had to pick out a new one, which proved to be a bit of a challenge. We found one we liked, but it was $90 to ship, which seemed insane. So then we picked out another, found out it was in stock, and put it on hold for pick up on Saturday. Turns out, if we had to order an out-of-stock crib, it could take 10-12 weeks, which we really don't have at this point. So, we headed down to Babies R Us on Saturday morning to pick it up. The morning ended up being a sort of comedy of errors (I'll spare you the details), but by Sunday, the crib was set up and beautiful, a gift from Nan and Herman to their great granddaughter. Here's a look at my handy husband putting it together and then what it looks like in the room:
We really pleased with it. It's super sturdy and has a beautiful finish. It has a nice bureau to match that we'll get, also. So exciting!

Sunday was spent on the couch where I literally felt and watched the girl move from a transverse position to a head down position, complete with kicks in the ribs and a hard bulge on my left side where her butt now sits. It was so cool to feel her move that much, even as it got increasingly uncomfortable. And I know she could move back again, but it's nice to know she's in the "right" position for the moment.

Last night we went to see Pearl Jam, which as usual did not disappoint. It was a late night after a whole evening on my feet, but it was so fun and totally worth it to see them at an outdoor arena. We both took off today knowing we'd need time to recover, and because we had a doctor's appointment. Everything looks great! The baby is measuring right on schedule, her heartbeat is nice and strong, and I was right about where she is now positioned. Not that it really matters that I'm right, it was more cool to get validation that what I'm feeling is SO DAMN REAL. I just love doctor's appointments for that reason, it just gives us amazing reinforcement that she's doing as good as we feel she is. And I only gained 4 lbs. this month, for a total of only 18, which makes me thrilled. I'm getting pretty good at this pregnancy thing!

I start going in every two weeks now for the the next four weeks, and then every week from then on. My non-stress tests at the hospital start every week starting the 18th.

All in all, life is good. We're looking forward to the 4th, where we spend the day on the beach in Plymouth with our closest friends. And then the next day my brother-in-law Adam is doing a half-ironman we're going to go watch.

I hope everyone has an equally wonderful holiday weekend. And now, the standard sign-off: