April | 2013 | Team Trader Mom

After what felt like a sometimes quick, sometimes long 9 months, we finally have an end in sight.

We have scheduled a C-section for April 10th.

35 weeks. Photo courtesy of H&J Creative Studio

I know that was our original due date so it shouldn’t seem like such a big deal, but it is. A due date is just a guess. It’s an approximation. But the baby could really come at any time. But scheduling surgery, now that’s definite. Granted, the baby could still come anytime before the 10th but at least we know it won’t go any longer than that.

Which is a big relief for me.

I am ready to be done. You just reach a point where enough is enough. I’m not sleeping well. I feel like a beached whale. Things hurt. Clothes don’t fit (I seriously have only 3 pairs of pants I can wear at this point!). The time has come.

I had my last OB appointment yesterday.

My weight gain has slowed down (which is shocking to me since I’m eating like it’s going out of style). As everyone keeps saying – I’m all baby.

And it’s a big baby.

They had us do another ultrasound (we did one at 22 weeks and one at 32 weeks) to check the size.

Profile shot

8 pounds 6 ounces.

To put some perspective on that, Isabella was 8 lbs 4oz when she was born at 41 weeks (which is 2 weeks later than where we are now). So if we let this kid go another 2 weeks, it could easily be over 9 lbs.

They also discovered something else in the ultrasound.

3D of the baby’s face with an arm partially in front

The umbilical cord is wrapped twice around the baby’s neck.

When I first heard this, I panicked and thought we would need to do an emergency surgery or something but my doctor assured me that there’s nothing to worry about. This happens all the time, particularly in really active babies like TTB. There can sometimes be issues during a vaginal delivery if the cord starts to pull on the baby’s neck while it’s going through the birth canal but you just don’t know until it happens. And if it does, there are things they can do. Plus, there’s always a chance the baby could unwind itself as it moves around these last few days too.

Photo courtesy of H&J Creative Studio

So, we were left with a decision. Keep waiting and see if this kid tries to come out on its own or schedule surgery. Given the size, umbilical cord situation and the fact that I haven’t progressed any in the last week, we thought it made the most sense to go ahead and schedule the C-section.

Next question was – for when?

We could really do it for any time next week but I have this hang up about not wanting to choose my child’s birthday for them. I’d rather leave it up to the universe. So I was indecisive. The doctor suggested we go ahead and just schedule it on the due date, which made sense to me. (Actually, we haven’t officially set the appointment yet. I’m still waiting for the hospital to call me back and confirm).

Photo courtesy of H&J Creative Studio

When the doc did the cervical exam, she went ahead and stripped the membrane too. Basically, that means she stuck her finger through the cervix and scraped it around the sac of waters to separate the 2 from each other.

Yes, it was painful.

Doing this is thought to get things moving along a little bit and encourage labor. I actually did start having contractions last night. I’ve been having Braxton/Hicks contractions for a while but the ones yesterday were more intense and regular. I started timing them and they increased from every 30 minutes to every 10. I seriously thought maybe this was it – that we were starting labor! But when I went to bed and laid down, they all stopped and I haven’t had one since.

My body just likes to mess with me.

So, here we are. 5 days away from having a new little guy or gal in our family. 5 days seems like a really long time to me right now. As I was lying awake in bed last night, I could not imagine how I’m going to get through these last days without going crazy. Today it seems better in the light of day and I think if I stay occupied with Isabella and family fun, plus take lots of naps and rest, it’ll all be fine.

And the next thing I know, we’ll be a family of 4!

Photo courtesy of H&J Creative Studio

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Another holiday has come and gone. There’s always so much build-up and sometimes the day ends up being a disappointment if it doesn’t live up to the hype.

But not this one!

Our Easter weekend was just lovely. A lot of people were predicting the baby might make an appearance during the holiday but I was hoping it wouldn’t. I wanted this one last holiday with just our little threesome.

I had Friday off of work so Isabella and I had a Girl’s Day. She reminded CJ and Samson of that over and over too!

First we colored eggs.

Yes, she’s wearing Christmas jammies to color Easter eggs. Hey, why not!

I told her that we were going to “dye eggs for Easter” and her response was, “Mommy! I don’t want to kill any eggs!”

Die vs. dye…good time for a lesson in homophones!

She did 10 of the eggs the traditional way, with a dye kit bought from the store.

And I taught her how to marbleize them.

She resisted at first but eventually got really in to it.

The last 2 eggs she colored with finger paints!

I forgot to take a pic of the final painted eggs but let’s just say they were both brown all over. Another good lesson – mixing all the colors together makes brown!

A few of the eggs then got stickers added to them, once dry.

Once all the “real egg” stuff was done, we got dressed and headed outside to hang plastic eggs in the tree! This was her idea, though I had seen it done by someone in our old neighborhood and thought it would make a fun project. Plus, it was gorgeous out so might as well enjoy some sunshine!

Isabella ended up not being much help. She thought it was too windy and darted back inside while I finished hanging all the eggs. Figures.

But I was able to coax her back out when I suggested we go for a walk and pick up “treasures” (aka trash) along the way. She thought that was a great idea!

The plan was to only walk by a couple houses and then turn around and come back. I wasn’t sure how far I’d be able to go. Well, we ended up at the park, which is about 2 long blocks up the hill. Surprisingly, I wasn’t as tired as I thought I would be and Munchkin had a ton of fun playing on the swings and such, after having not visited the playground in months.

We ended the day by going out for ice cream cones and getting the car washed.

She wasn’t thrilled at the idea of a car wash (she hates the loud noise) but the ice cream made it better.

Then came Easter Sunday!

We let her do the Easter egg hunt right away and sort through the eggs while I made breakfast.

Jackpot!

After a breakfast of hard-boiled eggs and cinnamon rolls, we had her hunt for her Easter basket.

It was hidden in the laundry room so I thought I was being all clever and vague by saying “a room with soap.” Could be any number of rooms with soap in the house! 1 of 3 bathrooms, kitchen, nursery….but oh no, she went right to the laundry room! So much for trying to outsmart her!

We then got dressed and ready and headed to my parent’s house for the family event! Again, we did the egg hunt first so that we wouldn’t have the kids asking about it over and over during lunch.

It was nice enough to be outside and Isabella loved her “princess dress”.