As the second trimester comes to an end...

We're now 26 weeks pregnant! That means only 2 weeks until the third trimester, and 14 weeks until our little girl's due date! The countdown on the right is actually under 100 days to go!! It seems so strange that in such a short amount of time, I'll be kissing her chubby cheeks!

I'm so happy the last week is over, it was not much fun for me or Matt. We took turns passing some sort of chest/head cold back and forth to eachother. Poor Matt definitely got the worst of it, too. I have always heard that being pregnant makes a woman more susceptible to illnesses. Take that, along with the fact that there aren't any cold medications that are safe to use (or that I feel comfortable using) during pregnancy, and you would think that I would have had a much harder time with it. Fortunately, I only had a cough for a couple of days and a yucky headache! I must really have an awesome immune system! I think the baby felt a little under the weather when I was at my worst, too. She was so calm, she hardly kicked at all. Once I got feeling better, she was back to her usual super high level of activity!

Speaking of her amazing activity level, she hasn't stopped her crazy kicks one little bit. I can tell she's running out of room in my belly pretty quickly too, because now I can feel every little squirm or stretch on top of the kicks! She actually woke me up a few days ago pushing her little arms and legs up against my body pillow, and tickling my ribs so much I actually laughed! I didn't even change positions to try and get her to stop for a while, I just smiled and enjoyed her playing. It reminded me of my best friend's little girl, Addisyn. She'll be 2 years old in March, but I remember how every morning when she was a tiny little thing, she would wake up smiling and giggling, so excited to be awake and see her Mommy! Thinking about Addisyn made me so excited about playing with my little girl in the mornings! I can't imagine a sweeter way to start a day (Especially if I wont be able to sleep in again once she's here! Haha!).

I mentioned that I can feel her running out of room.. Well, along with that comes a lot of the uncomfortabilities of pregnancy I've heard so much about. I've begun to have that awful ache in my low back, pretty much all the time. Its been making it pretty difficult to get comfortable at night, and keeps me tossing and turning (and keeping Matt awake). My hips have also been aching when I stand for too long, and I've had problems with my sciatic nerve. Thanksfully, taking a bath before bed usually helps. It worries me a little that these symptoms are starting already- I've always heard that they came along with the third trimester. Hopefully they won't be too bad...


Matt and I took our tour of Labor and Delivery this afternoon. It was actually really exciting to see where I'll be giving birth, and where we'll stay before we bring her home! The delivery rooms are really, really nice! They're really big rooms, with the bed for me, a chair/pull-out bed for Matt, a bathroom with a jacuzzi tub, and so on. They are decorated really nicely, and designed to be a comfortable place to deliver. The rooms in the Mother/Baby unit are smaller, but have more comfortable beds, for the Mom's anyway- Matt's stuck with the pull-out. There is no nursery, so the baby will stay with me in the room the whole time we're in the hospital. I absolutely LOVE that! I don't know how I'd feel if they took her away.. They also showed us the room where they'll take her for blood work and all the routine newborn tests they perform, and when I saw that room, I had my first painfully overprotective moment.. I don't want them to take her and stick her or take her blood or make her cry (even though I'll be there with her, too). I was so sad thinking about that, but I know the tests are necessary. All in all, I'm really excited about it all, and I'm looking forward to the whole experience. I'm also very glad we chose to use the Midwife Service! The nurse giving the tour informed us that the patients under the care of the midwives are able to get up and walk around, use the bathtub or birthing ball, and even eat small snacks while in labor. Patients under regular OB/GYN care are mostly confined to their bed the whole time, with the fetal monitor strapped on. I really feel good knowing that I'll have many options available to help me be as comfortable as possible while I'm in labor, especially since I don't want to use an epidural.

And now for the most exciting part of this post!!!

My husband is the best. Really. My birthday is next Friday, but he surprised me with my birthday presents last night (He's going to be gone next week for work, and wanted me to have my presents before then). I'm actually writing this post on my brand new computer!! My computer died last week, leaving me incredibly frustrated (Those of you who know me well, know I don't handle that type of frustration well- especially when pregnancy hormones are added into the mix). So now I have a brand new Toshiba netbook that is perfect for everything I need (internet, bills, basic documents, etc)! I LOVE IT! He also put together an awesome baby bag full of things to pamper me while I'm in the hospital in February, and it all came in the diaper bag I wanted! There are so many fun things in there, several of them I would never have thought of myself! He took the time to research online, and ask friends and family for suggestions on things I'd need and things I'd want. He came up with:

Receiving blankets
An absolutely adorable outfit to bring the baby home in
Socks for the baby
Socks for me (one of the things I wouldn't have thought of)
A hooded towel for the baby (so cute!)
A book to read to the baby called Little Bear Hugs
A new Nicholas Sparks book for me
Diapers and wipes
Baby lotion
Mommy lotion
Travel size toiletries (all really nice brands, too!!)
A new toothbrush
A new razor and shave gel
Hair ties
Chapstick
Pads (the hospital kind aren't very nice we hear...)
Nursing pads
A watch to time my contractions
A yummy assortment of candy
My super neat diaper bag that I love!

We're still missing a few things like pj's for me, pillows, and whatnot, but I am so amazed at how thoughtful he was when he made the list and went shopping for me! He's such a good husband, and I can already tell that he's going to make an even better daddy (I've always known that about him, but things like this definitely prove it true!). This is definitely one HUGE thing off of my "Getting Ready for Baby" checklist!

Next on the list: Preparing the nursery! And I've finally realized exactly how I'm going to decorate it! I mentioned several posts ago that Matt had fallen in love with the blue sailboat theme (again- BOY!!) and was a little sad when he realized that we would not be decorating the nursery in blue, or in sailboats. I spent quite a bit of time over the next several weeks looking up different ideas and color schemes, and when I came across 'the one' I knew it instantly! We're going to have a nautical themed nursery, but instead of using blues and whites, we're using pale pink, yellow, and sand tones. It's not going to be a cheesy beach theme or anything, but instead a very light and airy 'Cape Cod' type thing. I've found a ton of awesome (and very affordable) ways to decorate using large seashells, sanddollars and so on. I'll be able to make the crib bedding and curtains very easily, and I'll make storage boxes and shelves and give them an awesome sanded-down (no sharp edges or splinters!!), worn look after painting them pale pink and yellow. We can use one of those really fun toy nets that we had when we were kids, made out of something that looks like a fishing net. And we'll have lighthouses and, yes, even sailboats. Matt and I are even talking about building a model sailboat for her! I am SO excited about it, I can't wait to get started! I can even use a bunch of the leftover decorations from our wedding!!

Our vacation is coming up very quickly, we'll be in Florida in TWO WEEKS!! I can't begin to describe how much I'm looking forward to seeing all of our family and friends! I'm trying to get some sort of a rough schedule made up so that we can make sure to see everyone and do everything we want while we're there, or at the very least, make a list. I have been calling a few places for ultrasound prices, and now just need to pick a date for it. It's something I REALLY want to do while we're there! I'm so excited to see her little face!

Once we get home from our trip, I'll probably start working on the nursery a lot more, and hopefully packing up our house to move! We've been on the waiting list for a house on the other side of the island where Matt works since July!! He has to commute 20 miles each way, and if he's driving during rush hour, that can take over an hour and a half sometimes! That's just too much when he's already working crazy 4pm to 4am shifts! Plus, I'll be done working as of November 19th (YAY!!) so we won't have to worry about me having to commute instead of Matt. Anyway, after several months of waiting for a new house, we're finally down to number 30 of 200ish on the waitlist, and the number goes down by 5 or 10 every week or so. I have this nagging feeling that they're going to call us about a house when we're in Florida, but hopefully they'll wait until we get home! I plan to go in and talk to them about our trip before we leave anyway.

So a lot of exciting things are coming up- our vacation, a new house (hopefully), preparing for the baby girl, the holidays, Matt's birthday, and on and on... I think this is a good time to be starting the third trimester (which most moms say goes by really slowly) with so many things to look forward to. I think it will help keep me busy and make time go by faster!

Now that I've rambled on and on for this long, I'm going to go make a batch of pumpkin muffins!

Thanks for reading! See you guys soon!!