T minus 21 days...

I have no idea what that means, I just always hear it.

21 days! or less...
I had an appt this morning and when she checked me she said that I wasn't dilated, but that the head was way way down. In fact, her exact words were, "there's she is! I can feel her head." Um, excuse me? Like, her actual head? Like, I could still go into regular labor?! That thought scares me to death! If I were to go into labor on my own in the next couple of weeks, we would have to make a mad dash to Angelo and then the C-section would be more of an emergency situation. She said not to worry about anything, if she feels like I need to stick around town or that there were any need to move up the delivery, she would definitely let me know. And I trust her, but it's still a little freaky to me. So that bag I was going to get ready next week? I'll be getting it ready tonight.
I know I'm over-reacting, and that is so unlike me. As soon as my husband gets home, his only job is to reassure me that she won't come early, the delivery will go ahead as planned on the 14th, and everything will be fine. And I'll believe him and feel a lot better. I hope. In the mean time, I'm going to take a very long nap, these speedy trips to Angelo really wear me out. And I'll update later on the girls' rooms (almost done!) and my last child free weekend for a year.

The bag!!

Actually, that should be plural! You need a bag, Daddy needs a bag, baby needs a bag, and then you need one for all your extras for your stay. Of course, these can all be combined, and probably should, those hospital rooms get small quickly. As for when to have them packed and ready, your doctor will tell you when he/she thinks it's time, but I think a good time frame is a couple weeks before your due date. Then again, after 37 weeks, they say you could go at any time, so if you feel more comfortable having them ready earlier than that, go for it. I have just under 4 weeks before I deliver, and even though it's a C-section and there's very little chance I'll go into labor before then, I'm kinda feeling the need to have it all packed, so I'll probably be getting mine ready sometime next week. (Holey Moley, next week!!)
I think it's a good idea to pack a "just in case" bag, or add some things, just in case you have a c-section. I've read that 1 in 4 deliveries ends up being a c-section these days. The average stay for a vaginal delivery is 24 hours, but is 3 days for a c-section, so packing a few extras in your "just in case" bag will be helpful. You'll need a lot less than you think, though, just like everything else when it comes to a baby.

MOMMA'S BAG:

• your regular toiletries (toothbrush and paste, shampoo and conditioner, deodorant, facewash) and don't forget hair and makeup stuff. You won't feel like going all out, but when looking at the pictures later, you'll wish you had at least thrown on some mascara... at least that's how I felt. I'll be spending a little more time this stay blowdrying my hair (or having someone else do it) and putting on a little bit of makeup.
• 2 or 3 good nursing bras and/or tank tops
• socks, those rooms are freezing
• the hospital provides some lovely mesh underwear for afterwards... hideous, but soooo comfortable, so bring your own, but you might not need them
• comfortable, fairly loose fitting pajamas
• "just in case" you might prefer gowns if you've been cut. There are a couple reasons for this: the first is that pajama pants might be uncomfortable on your incision. The incision will probably be very low, and the pants wouldn't fit directly on it, but it still might be very painful. The second reason is that you will have quite a bit of discharge afterwards, called lochia, that you didn't get rid of by vaginally delivering. Your postpartum nurse will come in every few hours to massage your uterus (or torture you, however you want to look at it. Seriously, it hurts!) and make sure that you're still discharging and it's not clotting. This is much more convenient and goes much quicker if you already have a gown on.
• house shoes, flip flops, etc. for walking afterwards
• sanitary pads... the hospital will provide some of these, but you might prefer your own brand and absorbency. The ones they have could be used as diapers.
• Your going home clothes. It may just be me, but I like to dress up a little bit. Some women just want to wear pj's home.

BABY'S BAG:

• you could include baby's stuff in one of your bags, but you probably just got at least 5 super cute diaper bags, and you've got to break them in sometime!
• the hospital will probably provide everything you need for the baby, including diapers, wipes, any creams you would need, etc. and you usually get to take home anything left over.
• comfy little outfits for baby to wear during your stay, nothing fancy, the baby will sleep for the majority of the first few days. And remember, it's likely that baby will ruin at least 2 outfits a day for the first several months, and it could start that very first day (especially with a rookie dad handling diapers!) so don't bring the whole closet, but 4-6 outfits would be plenty.
• receiving blankets for the ride home (unfortunately, the hospital doesn't let you take those, even though they are the PERFECT size for swaddling)
• the car seat (obviously, but I know sometimes it's the details I concentrate on and forget about the obvious stuff)
• the going-home outfit! and be sure to take pictures of him/her in it before you put them in the car seat and before you get home. Complete outfits have a way of becoming incomplete during a car ride, no matter how short!

DADDY'S BAG (and all the extras):

• Daddy can take care of his own clothes and toiletries (you have enough to worry about!) but remember the possible extra couple of days.
• cell phone chargers for all those calls
• a pre-determined, written out list of people to call
• camera, video camera, all applicable chargers, and plenty of memory cards and tape. Triple check these! Make sure everything is charged and that you have a fresh tape in the recorder and an empty memory card (or two.)
• if you want, a baby book for all your guests to sign. I also suggest that as soon as you get a gift or flowers while there, you have someone write it down in the book. We just kept cards in an envelope, but when we got home and were ready to write thank you cards, that envelope was gone, and we had no idea who had sent what.

Come on, gals, what else can you think of??

Grandmother's birthday present

My grandmother's birthday was at the end of October and we had a big party for her last weekend. It was her 72nd, but somehow we missed doing a big party for her 2 years ago, so we did it this year. We came up with the idea of putting together a table or bench for her patio that was all about her grandkids, so each of us painted two 4" tiles, one with our name on it, and the other with a memory or something that we knew would be special to her. It was extremely difficult getting it all together since the 9 of us live in 5 different towns, but we got it all put together, if not completely finished (it still needs to be mortared and grouted.) I found this little bench in an antique shop here in town, and I thought it would be perfect. It was just rustic enough, and it was long and not very wide... we thought it would perfect as a plant bench. We filled in the gaps with some neutral back splash tile.

I just copied these pictures over from Leddy's facebook page, so they're kinda small.

We laid out the tiles in chronological order, and here's what the "memory" tiles mean:

LACI: my grandparents have a huge tree in their backyard surrounded by a brick planter. We've done everything from make mudpies to stand on the edge to cheer.

AMY: every year since they built the house in '83, we've had our christmas in the barn. (the clover by my name is because my bday is st. patrick's day)

LEDDY: grandmother used to have a big white jewelry box that she and Leddy used to play in, until it got stolen a few years ago.

LUCAS: Luke is the only boy in our line that will carry on the family name... and brand. And the yellow rose (of Texas) is Grandmother's favorite flower.

LAURA: there used to be an old play kitchen set on the back patio that Laura and Cadye used to play with, especially when it rained, thus the blue.

CADYE: a few years ago, Grandmother gave us all ornaments that said "the stars at night are big and bright..." and printed up the entire song, most of which we'd never heard.

LANDON: the "T" is for Tarleton, where Lan is now playing baseball. There is a heart in the bleachers of his baseball field. All 9 of us have always been very involved in athletics, and Grandmother and Granddad have traveled the state making it to as many games as they possibly could.

JORDAN: Jordi perfectly sketched the back patio, and filled in Grandmother teaching her to jitter-bug.

JANCEN: Jance drew bluebonnets, another of Grandmother's favorite flowers.

the (almost) finished product

She loved it!

I was so proud of all my cousins for the work that they did. It's fairly obvious that none of us are artists, but each came up with something that was special to them and to Grandmother, and even the boys put out a lot of effort.

Neglectful

That's what I am. And not just with this blog, my house has been looking pretty bad here lately. I had one beautiful, productive day of nesting and got so much done, but it was all baby related, and then it was gone. But I have forced myself, with the help of my husband's gentle but firm urging, to get the house clean, the laundry done, and the baby's room ready, and I actually feel better, even if I can only tolerate working in short spurts. But anyway, it's all done, except for the baby's room, so I can concentrate on that today and finish preparing for Brynna to get here.

Which, by the way, is in

28 days!!!

I'm almost done being pregnant forever! I'm not sure which I'm more excited about!

I have all of Brynna's hospital stuff ready and most of mine, so pretty soon we'll get our bags packed and ready to go (BTW, I'll post of hospital bags and readiness later today.) Packing D'Laney's bag will be harder than either of ours, she has to have on her cutest outfits for all the pictures that will be taken. At least packing for Cameron will be pretty easy, and the most important thing he'll need those few days, Copenhagen, he can take care of himself!

I'm going to try to catch up on posting today. I'm not sure what I'll post about, it doesn't seem like we've done much, but it's been two weeks, so I'll try to think of something. I'll at least try to get some new pics up.

Speaking of pics, here's a belly shot. I'm sure you're all just dying to see my massiveness. Leddy took this last, I don't take them of myself. All you can see of me is my belly poking out from behind the wall!

Letter to Santa

D'Laney and I wrote a letter to Santa a few days ago, then emailed it to family so that they could see what it was that she was asking for.

I'm back!

I know, back from where? Several days between post is the norm for me, so it would seem that I didn't go anywhere. But I felt like death for several days, so I definitely feel like I'm back from somewhere! I am FINALLY feeling better! Sure enough, that pesky little chest cold turned into bronchitis, which I knew it would. I've had that so much over the years I can feel it coming on like old people can feel a cold front. I'm still coughing quite a bit (to which D'Laney replies, Momma, quit choking!) and it really wears me out, but I am much better. I'll post about Halloween later today, but right now I want to get back to this baby business!

Thanks for all the comments on the last couple of posts. I had a hard time with the last one because it seems to me right now that nothing makes the last few weeks go by any faster or smoother. And it seems that the rest of you feel the same way!

Today let's talk about getting the house ready for the baby. This is something that as a first time mom you think about constantly and you have everything ready for weeks before the big day. I don't know if everyone is like this, but I know for us, the second time around is a vastly different story. Brynna will be here in six weeks, and we have nothing, NOTHING, ready for her. D'Laney is still sleeping in her crib, and all the clothes are still in bins in the shed. I feel completely prepared for another infant in the house, except for the nursery, clothes, diapers, blankets, etc. Ya know, everything!
You'll get a lot of stuff at showers, and some of it you won't be able to live without, some of it will stay in the box for several months, if you don't regift it! Everyone has different things that they prefer, and most of it is trial and error, but maybe we can cut down on what all you try. And I'm not talking about the obvious basics, crib, changing area, dresser, etc. I'm looking for the little things that might slip your mind.

• set up a pack and play: when D'Laney was born we lived in a tiny house, so walking to her room to change her diaper or lay her down for a nap was about 4 strides. Now that we're in a two story, I'm not about to do that! most pack and plays have an upper basket for the newborns, and they work great as a nap/changing station that's right beside you. (we set it up in our bedroom for the first few weeks instead of buying a bassinet, as well.) This time I plan on leaving one downstairs and having one upstairs in our room for the first few weeks.
• if you don't want to set it up, or don't have the room to, at least set out a basket with all the necessary changing gear next to the couch.
• those little baskets come in handy all over the house. have one next to every spot where you might feed your little one and stock it with burp rags and a couple of small blankets. I will be keeping one next to the couch downstairs, the recliner in the baby's room, my bed, probably one in D'Laney's room, and one in the office next to the computer (if I have time for that kind of thing!)
• I didn't like our wipey warmer, it dried out the wipes. Maybe we just got a lemon.
• if there is a phone jack in your baby's room, but a phone in there. You might not spend a whole lot of time in there, but it never fails that the second you sit down to feed the baby or rock her to sleep, the phone rings and you forgot to bring a portable in there with you. I had one that lit up, and I turned the ringer off, so when the phone rang I could see it, but it didn't wake the baby, and I didn't have to get up to answer the phone.

That's all I can think of at the moment! C'mon, ladies, add to it!!