Another Busy Weekend

This weekend was "free" so that equals busy. Mike and I spent Saturday working around the house. I sanded, stained, and lacquered the windows in Pickles and our room while Mike worked on caulking the windows & doors. In our down time, we were organizing and rearranging things.

My parents came on Sunday to help us move furniture. By the time they arrived, Mike and I had successfully destroyed every room in our house "cleaning & rearranging". My dad worked in the newly painted room to replace the electrical outlets and put up the lights. My mom and I put away the shower gifts, started washing Pickles' clothes, and sorted through more items in Pickles' room to clear a path to the water bed so my dad could drain the bed. We were ready for Mike when he came home from Ultimate to start moving furniture. And my brother came over after his soccer game to lend us his muscles too. Beds and dressers went from one room to another, pieces from the basement made an appearance in every room until finally landing in a bedroom, and our bookshelf even moved from the office to Pickles' room. By the time the furniture settled in, the laundry was done and we were all exhausted, all three of our former guest rooms looked completely different. I still walk into those rooms and am surprised to see the results. They look great - thank you for the help!!!

Mike and I quickly changed and headed over to our neighbors house for the Vikings/Packer game and pumpkin carving. We both agreed that our pumpkin wouldn't have stood a chance at the Stouff's carving party. But we must have learned some great skills all those years of carving in Milwaukee to rock at the pumpkin carving and win first place in the contest!

32 weeks

We had our 32 week ultrasound on Wed to check on the development of Pickles' left kidney. The good news is that it hasn't gotten any bigger (but it also hasn't gotten any smaller). It measures 9 mm and the threshold for 32 weeks is 7 mm. In comparison, the right kidney is only 3 mm, but also within that "normal" threshold. We have been referred to a Pediatric Urologist at Methodist Hospital that we'll met with in Nov to figure out next steps but no further ultrasounds need to be done.

We did get a few more pictures too but they don't show the full body shots. Pickles' head is the only thing that now fits in the viewing area (compared to 20 week pictures where you could see Pickles' entire body):

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We also had our 32 week check-up on Thurs. Everything is looking good. Now that we have several birth class under our belt, we have a lot more questions for the doctor. (Especially since we're not to fond of our instructor - she seems to answer 90% of the questions with "Ask your provider" Errrr.....) So we spent the majority of the time getting answers and receiving our flu shots.

The doctor's strongly recommend that anyone spending a significant amount of time (more than a couple of visits) with Pickles' after birth get their flu shot. Pickles will be too small to get vaccinated so it's important he/she stay as healthy as possible. Since Pickles' will be born in the height of cold and flu season, we're also asking that only healthy people come to visit. We'd love to see you, but are willing to wait a week or two until you are healthy.

One of the big questions I had was if I can still fly. There is a Region Manager meeting Nov 15 & 16 in Illinois that I've been asked to attend to help present the new commission plan. This would mean returning exactly 4 weeks before Pickles' due date. The doctor's answer: "Yes - because I've had a healthy and uncomplicated pregnancy." So travel arrangements have been made - I'm going to Effingham, Illinois on Nov 15th!

Check, check, check!

This weekend HUGE progress was made on my to-do list and we managed to squeeze in a little fun too.

Friday night we had a "date" night of sorts. We went out to dinner at CiCi's (pizza buffet) and then to a movie.

Saturday was painting day. Tae, one of my best friends, came over in the morning and we got started painting the room that used to be my scrapbook room. We put the second coat on the ceiling and then ate lunch. We spent most of the afternoon putting the first coat on the walls and chatting (mostly about her wedding - see post below). Since we finished up a little early before she had to leave, we worked on moving and cleaning Pickles' room. (I wasn't going to pass up an opportunity for some great help!!!) All the items for donation are in my car - 4 trips down the stairs! We completely cleaned out Pickles' closet and what's remaining is in small piles in the bedroom for Mike and I to make keep/donate decisions on. I hope we can get that done this week.

Saturday night we celebrated my dad's birthday by taking him out to a recommended seafood restaurant in Lakeville and coming back to our house for cake & presents. Everyone liked there food and the cake was good and moist - perfect!!

Sunday I met a good friend at Babies R Us to purchase our crib while Mike played Ultimate frisbee. We got a great deal on it - thanks Kristy! Sunday afternoon Tae came back (I held her painting tools hostage!) and helped me finish up the second coat in what will soon be an extra bedroom.

Big accomplishments on the to-do list (and on some of the bigger/longer/important items):
*Paint ceilings in scrapbook room: Check!
*Paint walls in scrapbook room: Check!
*Order crib: Check!

A super HUGE THANK YOU to Tae for all her help painting this weekend! I couldn't have gotten it done without her.

Tae & Steve's Wedding

Last weekend we attended a wedding for some of our best friends - Tae & Steve. I was a matron of honor and being 30 weeks required that I work very closely with my seamstress to ensure I had a dress that properly fit and looked great. She worked hard to keep the style of my dress consistent with the other girls in the wedding party.

All of bridesmaids

Me at 30 weeks

They had one of the most perfect weddings I've been to - the weather in October can be questionable, especially for an outdoor wedding, and it was wonderful (80's and sunny). The wedding and reception were at the MN Zoo. Here are just a few of my favorite photos:

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(Mike took over for me because my arms were tired.)

Surprise!

Wednesday was a typical day at work. We had the Regional Operations Specialists in town (a group of 6-8 people who I work closely with that are located all over the country) and I was planning on meeting with them over lunch to answer some technical questions on the software they use that I often train on.

When I went down to meet them in the private dining room for lunch and a little Q&A, I opened the door, there were 20 people all lined up in the decorated room yelling "SURPRISE!" I was definately surprised and shocked - I had NO idea they were planning this baby shower.


After lunch from Jimmy Johns, we had cake and opened presents. No games though because we were limited to about an hour of time and Lynda, my boss, had promised the boys that there would be no games.





I was completely surprised when we received our stroller - I mean wow - we registered for the one we liked and really didn't expect to receive it because it's so expensive. But it made more sense to me thinking that if everyone threw in $10, we have a stroller. But then I proceeded to open the next gift - our car seat! Now I'm SHOCKED!!! I'm still overwhelmed by their generosity several days later.

I do really enjoy my job and the people I work with. They are very kind, genuine, nice people who care about each other and the work they do. It was fun to be completely surprised like that - it doesn't happen often (because I generally don't like surprises because I can't plan for them). But I'm working on this "go with the flow" attitude because I know life with be less about planning and more about adapting once Pickles is born.

30 weeks = 3/4 done

Today Pickles is 30 weeks. It occurred to me that this is 3/4 of the way or 75% done. The time just goes by so fast. Pickles is 3 lbs now and almost 16 inches long. Wow!!!

Only 10 weeks left. My goal is to have the room set up 4 weeks before we are due in case Pickles comes early. Then I'm sure I'll be able to find projects to keep me busy in the mean time. :-)

That only leave 6 weeks to finish up my to-do list. Next weekend I plan to make HUGE progress on the guest bedroom. Then the following weekend it's all about moving furniture around and getting Pickles' room ready. It might not exactly happen that way but I feel better knowing I've at least got plans made.

Glucose test: try, try again.

I failed the one hour glucose test at our 28 week appointment and had to go back the following week for the three hour test. So I showed up bright and early last Wednesday morning (after fasting for 12 hours) for my test. This time they started with a blood draw to make sure my sugar levels were within an acceptable range to begin with. Once I passed this test, I got to drink double the amount of sugar liquid and have my blood drawn once every hour for the next three hours. The nurses warned me that often the first hour is the hardest because of the huge swing in my glucose levels. Many people feel sick and if I did, they would find a room for me to lay down.

I made it through the first hour without a problem. I was actually enjoying my time catching up on magazines and online stuff (Luckily the internet is available for guests to use). Completed that blood draw and sat down to wait again for another hour. I never left the reception area of the lab. And I'm sure glad I didn't. While I was waiting another pregnant woman checked in for her test - she was coming back to redo it because they couldn't find her for one of her blood draws and she had to start over. Yuck!!!

I started the second hour by working. Being able to work at my appointment meant that I didn't have to take a 1/2 day of vacation. The third hour was tough. I started feeling really sick to my stomach and light headed. When feeling sick, I just laid my head back and tried to breath through it (good practice for labor). The rest of the time I tried to stay distracted with work. I was so excited when they called me in for the last blood draw. I was already packed up and ready to leave. As soon as I left, I went straight for the food that I had waiting for me in the passenger seat of the car - granola bar & banana never tasted so good!

Fast forward to today - almost a week after my test and I still hadn't heard the results so I called the nurse. I passed!!!! I'm so excited and emailed Mike right away. I felt just like a little kid in school running home to show mom & dad my good test score. :-)