Weekly Update: 39 Weeks

ONE MORE WEEK!?!?! (Plus or minus a week.)

At 39 weeks, baby bird weighs over 7 pounds and is about 20 inches long. She is the size of a mini watermelon.

I went to the doctor this past Tuesday. BP was fine so they weren't worried about my one swollen foot. It's probably just my little girl laying on that side. I've been working from home all week and being very diligent about keeping my feet up, which has really helped the swelling. She also checked me for dilation - my cervix is really far back there and closed. The OB said, "yeah, you ain't having this baby this week." I've always thought I'd be late (Nov 30 is my guess) but had been hopeful that I was wrong lately (been having contractions for a week, *thought* I lost my mucus plug, and just feeling overall blech) but I doubt that'll be the case. I'll have family in town next week from Wednesday through Sunday, so I am sure she'll come on Sunday when everyone is packing up to go home and back to work. ;)

I'm just ready to meet my baby bird!!!

Nursery Tour

A while back, I posted an almost-done nursery tour. The nursery is completely done now so I wanted to share.

When you walk into the nursery, the closet is to your left - I added two hot air balloon garlands on the closet door frame that Aunt Ashley made for my baby shower.

Then you've got her dresser/changing table (I changed the changing pad cover from pink to gray chevron to balance out the pink-overload). We also hung a hot air balloon (again, compliments of Aunt Ashley) from the ceiling in the corner. It has a name garland on it, but the dang thing keeps turning so that the garland is on the back. I need to get that fixed.

Moving around clockwise is the cozy nursing/reading corner with a rocker, bookshelf, lamp, and music. We'll spend a lot of time in this little corner.

(I asked Christopher to remove his dead tree from this corner and his response...I think it's got a little life left in it.  O_O)

Then my sweet bird's crib and toy box (made by my grandfather) is on the same wall as the door. I love everything about this section - the sanded and painted crib to fix the peeling, the hot air balloon sheets that were on back order for so long, the gray chevron bed skirt (again to balance out the pink, and will look better once the crib is dropped), the hot air balloon rug from my boss, and her name above the crib.

All we need now is baby Wrenn!

No More Thumb Sucking

I mentioned in a previous post about Carter's thumb-sucking cease all at the mention of visiting an ortho at his last dentist appointment . The boy just stopped cold turkey that very night, which shows how strong-willed he is (that's a good and a bad thing).

My aunt, an ortho assistant, talked with her ortho about it and he said he wouldn't even want to see him until he is 7 and already has those 6 year molars in. So we'll see what happens over the next few years since he's stopped the thumb-sucking.

Christopher told him that he would take him to get a prize since he stopped sucking his thumb, and he cashed that in over the weekend. We took the boys (and met Beth and Olive) to see Big Hero 6 at the movie theater. (What an awesome movie! But my boys both had crocodile tears during some sad parts so beware if you have particularly emotional (Landon) or empathetic (Carter) kids...or tired (both) kids.) Afterwards, we walked over to Barnes & Noble where he immediately picked out a Baymax (from the movie) figurine.

We're so proud of our Carter Bear and HIS decision to stop sucking his thumb.

Weekly Update: 38 Weeks

TWO. MORE. WEEKS!!!

Has this really happened? Ok, yes. It has felt like I have been pregnant forever. But also...didn't I just get pregnant? And now that I am at the end (and pretty miserable), I am still kind of sad that it's about to be over. This is the last time I will experience this and I'm actually going to miss it. I've had women confirm my insanity so I *think* I'm with the norm here. Maybe the crazy norm. Carrying a child is a special thing. I am growing a life, y'all. Yes, I get the irritating comments, but I also get the smiles and the beautiful comments. I'll miss this.

BUT I will get to see that sweet little face soon! I'll get to hold her and nurse her and smell her. My boys will get to see their sister they've been highly anticipating. The mister will get to kiss on his little girl. And that's pretty awesome too.

At 38 weeks, she is the size of a leek at over 19.5 inches long and weighing about 6.8 pounds.

I will be checked again for dilation next week, but again, I could go from 0 to baby pretty quickly for this 3rd baby (instead of 1cm one week, maybe 2 the next...). I'm having lots of irregular, random contractions. And I am swollen to the point of no return. My feet are swelling, especially the right one. Actually it kinda freaks me out how much more swollen the right one is (see picture). My hips, tailbone, and pelvis hurt, especially when I sleep (I dread going to bed now because of how painful it is to lay there) and I'm pretty tired.

Today is my last day in the office, and I will begin working from home until she comes.

I think everything is ready unless I am forgetting something. The nursery is ready, hospital bag is packed, diaper bags are packed and in vehicles, car seat bases are installed, leaves of absence have been started for both of us (Christopher gets 2 paid weeks on the company - isn't that awesome?), call lists have been made. What else?

Eeeeeeek!!!!!! I can't wait to meet my baby bird!!!

This is my pensive look (Photography credit: Landon)

WHY is my right foot so much more swollen???

Uno!

This past Sunday afternoon while Landon was at the Scouts' God & Me program, Carter and I ate WAY too much Halloween candy and played 8 games of Uno on an overturned laundry basket. He beat me 5 to 3. Must have been the full-size chocolate bar...

Only Cool Kids Go to the Dentist

What's Up?

This is going to be a hodgepodge of topics but here's what's been going on with the Bagley Circus lately.

I was so freaked out that I was going to go into labor this past weekend (even though I have accepted that this baby will most likely come late - again, I am banking on November 30). Spoiler alert: she didn't come! Christopher and the boys went on a boys-only camping trip so they weren't home and not easily reachable. I was just imagining me delivering my own baby on my couch while my husband and boys ate s'mores around a campfire. Also, it was a full moon. And I had been for a dental check-up last Thursday and the hygienist freaked me out saying that check-ups send women into labor. Lastly, my niece Gracie's birthday was Saturday and she has sworn since day 1 that I was going to have this baby on her birthday (Carter was born on her sister, Elizabeth's birthday). I'm not very superstitious but that was a lot. However, no baby came. Whew.

I don't know how I didn't go into labor last Thursday night with all the excitement in the house though! Hokie has gotten really bad about slipping out of the door and going around the house to the back door. Well...Thursday morning when I left for work, he slipped out without me realizing it and I left. I was at ninjitsu with the boys at 5pm when I got a text from Christopher that Hokie wasn't in the house. He walked around the neighborhood for an hour before I got home with no luck. Then I drove and walked around for another hour, plus had the ladies that live behind us looking too. He didn't have on his collar, although he is microchipped. Needless to say, I was the crazy, crying pregnant woman limping around in the dark (by the light of a full moon) calling "Hokie, Hokie, Hokie" over and over and over. I decided to go back home and make flyers. As I was walking up to my house, a car pulled into the drive. Two ladies got out and I yelled, "Do you have my dog?" and out jumped Hokie. I ran up to these ladies (mother and daughter) and hugged their neck, again crying like the craziest woman you've ever seen. They lived one street behind us so he had walked though our back yard to theirs, the daughter put him in a crate while she left for school, then after work/school they took him to a vet to see if he had a chip. The chip still had our old Youngsville address so she did some research and found our address. I am so thankful for good people like these two ladies. Then...for two hours afterwards, I sat in my living room crying (with joy, relief, guilt, I don't even know what) and having contractions. Finally, I was able to calm down and again, no baby.

Some baby things did get accomplished, however, so we are ready for Miss Wrenn when she comes. Car seats bases are installed in both vehicles, the last touches have been made to the nursery, hospital bag is packed, diaper bags are ready, and the last little things have been purchased. I think we're ready!!! Am I forgetting anything?

Carter stopped sucking his thumb! Cold turkey!!! At his dental check-up last week, the dentist suggested we take him to an orthodontist for an opinion regarding the constriction his palate has from thumb-sucking and the potential of an appliance. He was so freaked out that he stopped that night. The poor guy had a hard time at first; he cried for a while. And it just broke my heart. I was a thumb-sucker and I know what it feels like...but we've got some dental issues beginning from it so it has to stop. And he gets it. My aunt, who is an orthodontist assistant thinks it's a little too early for something like that so I am not sure if I am going to take him to an ortho or not. Especially since he's stopped sucking his thumb. But we'll see...

Lots going on over the past week and a really tough week ahead. We're waiting on some test results (coming Wednesday) that could entirely rock our worlds as a family. I can't go into it too much yet until we know some things (and to protect some younger family members that haven't been told anything yet) but we'd appreciate the prayers, good thoughts, etc.

The Miracle of Life

Click on the picture to get an enlarged view.

Weekly Update: 37 Weeks

With only 3 weeks left, Miss Wrenn weighs 6 & 1/3 pounds and is a bit over 19 inches long. She is the size of a bunch of Swiss chard (BabyCenter email) or a watermelon (Baby Countdown app).

At this week's appointment, they checked me for any progress. I am still closed and up, however, she said that doesn't really mean much for a 3rd time mom. Apparently, baby #3 doesn't progress slowly like a 1st or 2nd might. Basically I could go from nothing to having a baby. I have been highly discouraged against travel at this point (which makes going to VA by myself this weekend a bit challenging...in other words, not going to happen). My Group B Strep test came back negative as anticipated. No weight gain since the previous week (again, take that mean doctor!). I think I am holding steady at around 38 pounds (remember...56 pounds with Landon and 50 with Carter).

I am officially scheduled for an induction on Dec 4, which is at 41 weeks. Hopefully we won't need that.

My niece, Gracie, has sworn up and and down from day 1 that I am having this baby on Saturday, 11/8...her birthday (her sister, Elizabeth, shares a birthday with Carter and called that one too). Then I went for my routine dental check-up last night and the hygienist said that it's an old tale that dental check-ups can put a woman into labor. Now...I'm not one for believing this stuff, especially since I don't think I'm going to go early, BUT Christopher and the boys are going to be camping this weekend and I will be by myself. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little nervous.

My hips, pelvis, and butt hurt a lot. I'm having Braxton Hicks contractions almost every day. I wake up in the middle of the night (several nights during the week) feeling so queasy and like I'm going to get sick. And I am just overall tired and ready. Ready to meet my sweet girl!

I've been working more and more from home (at least 2-3 days each week) and after next week, will start working from home full-time until the baby comes. I can lay on the couch with my feet up while I work. Hopefully I can get the swelling in my right foot to go down (it's just my right foot...very weird).

Christopher sanded and painted the crib this past weekend. Now I just have to vacuum up the mess and put the crib back together (mattress, bed skirt, etc. back). The hospital bag HAS to be packed ASAP. I will do that this weekend. The last piece to the nursery is hanging a hook in the ceiling to hang a hot air balloon from (wonder if I can get up there and do it this weekend?). I'll get Christopher to install the car seat bases within the next week or so. It's not the end of the world if those don't get in before baby. He could always run home from the hospital to grab it. I may make a trip to BRU this weekend and pick up a few odds and ends, but I think I have everything I need for Wrenn.

The waiting game...

Fall Conferences 2014

Last week, we had our first parent-teacher conferences of the 2014/2015 school year.

I mean, I know my kids are sweet and perfect and brilliant but it's always great to hear someone else confirm that (sometimes parents can be a little biased, you know?). Both boys had great reports and Christopher and I left feeling very proud.

Landon's teacher started with, "This is going to be short because I have nothing to say except he's awesome." Landon is so focused this year. In 2nd grade, he'd had issues with chattiness and too many girlfriends, but that's not an issue at all in 3rd. I don't know if it's because he's matured some or if the work is harder (or more interesting - he is digging multiplication and division) so it keeps him focused on his work. But he's very serious about his schoolwork and is doing awesome. He's at a reading level Q already, which is where they need to be at the end of 3rd grade. As you can see on his Fall Conference report, he's at (3) or above (3+ and 4) grade level in all targets. I'm just so proud of him. AND!!! The other day we were talking about one of his Y counselors (who I get to check his math homework) who is going to school to be a math teacher. He beamed up at me and said, "I CAN BE A MATH TEACHER!!!" YES!!!! Remember the stress over what he's going to be when he grows up?

I'll be honest with you...I was a little bit worried over Carter. He'd had a few rough weeks at school so I had no idea what his teacher was going to say about him. She said other than those few incidents, he's been a complete angel. She said he's really sweet, makes friends easily (he's got one little boy named Tristan that he particularly likes), and he's doing great with his schoolwork. As you can see on his Fall Conference report, he's meeting all of his targets as well and his teacher has suggested things that he can work on that are beyond K level.

We feel so blessed to have these 2 great kids. God is good.

Halloween 2014

Happy Halloween from the Bagley Family (our last Halloween as a family of 4!)!!!