Blankets for the boys

On Tuesday my mom was here to help us clean the house. She comes every Tuesday, it's been the greatest blessing! After we are done we usually end up running errands and things. On Tuesday I needed to go to the mall, and my mom needed to go to the fabric store. I wasn't planning to buy anything at the fabric store, just help my mom find the fabrics that she needed. Well, I was in trouble because they put the nursery prints right by the homespun fabrics that my mom was looking at. There was a super cute monkey fabric that jumped out at me, I looked at it, put it back, looked at it again, and as I was looking at it again Roman saw it. He immediately grabbed the fabric and started hugging it. He didn't want me to make a blanket for Hudson with it, he wanted one for him. Well, I started looking at fabrics that would match the monkey fabric and found a green and yellow that matched perfectly so I decided to do it.

I haven't quilted at all since Roman was born (so in the last 3 years) so at first I was a little worried that I wouldn't be able to get them done before Hudson's born. I forgot how exciting it is to see a project coming together. How I have such a hard time putting it down once I can see it working. I had the quilt tops together on Wednesday.

I decided that I wanted to do their quilts a little different (so that we didn't have arguments over blankets). So Hudson's has 4 triangles that form a squares between the monkeys.

Roman's is triangles with a strip down the middle. Roman's is also 2 rows longer then Hudson's.


By Saturday I had Hudson's all quilted. I just need to get Roman's quilted and they will have adorable matching quilts!

36 weeks

Yesterday I had my 36 week appointment and things continue to look good. The best news is that Hudson has turned again. He is once again head down (he turned night before last, and it's such a relief to not have his head in my ribs anymore!), I am measuring about 1/2 a week a head now, but still ahead which is great and my blood pressure has stayed consistently 120/70. I gained 1 lb in the last 2 weeks, so I think I may be able to stay under the 30 lbs total weight gain that I was hoping for. Hudson's heart rate was 139 (which is more in line with where it has been, it was a little higher last week) and as usual he kicked the doppler right off my stomach. My doctor commented again that he must be doing soccer practice in there. Really it's just that he doesn't like any pressure against him! I am about a finger tip dilated and 30% effaced but negative engaged (Everyone comments about how high I am carrying still it seems.) My doctor isn't in next Monday or Tuesday so my next appointment is next Wednesday. I still am just in shock (very good shock) that things are still going so well and we are still just plugging along. Only a few more weeks and Hudson will be here!

34 weeks

I had another good appointment yesterday. Heart rate was back up around 150, he kept kicking the doppler. He didn't like having it on my stomach. I was measuring about a week ahead still so everything is looking great. Oh and I LOST 1 lb from my last appointment. So I am pretty much on target for weight gain. So far I've gained 21 lbs, I was hoping to keep my total weight gain to around 20 lbs, I am afraid it will be closer to 30 by the end.

The doctor confirmed my suspicions that he has once again turned and has his head in my ribs (and the doctor could feel his feet up on the other side too). He wasn't too worried about that yet, he said he still has a few weeks to turn, and if he doesn't we were already preparing for that, so it's okay. I was kind of hoping to not have to plan for a c-section, but whatever gets him here safe we will do!

And here is a picture from last week when I was 33 weeks 4 days.

32 Weeks

The bad news...we didn't get to see him today. The reason...because things are going so well! The original plan was to start doing ultrasounds at 32 weeks to measure growth. I saw the doctor and he said things looked great and he didn't think it was necessary today.

In the past 3 1/2 weeks I've grown 5 cm so we are back to a week ahead instead of a week behind, heart rate was 139 bpm (so just about the same as last time) cervix is still closed and I am still carrying very high. He said he would be SHOCKED if he came in the next 2 weeks (so we went 2 weeks between appointments instead of 1 already) and we are just going to plan one appointment at a time from here on out. As of now he isn't planning to do an ultrasound at my next appointment either unless he is concerned when we are there.

I am happy that he is measuring ahead and growing great and as long as the doctors right (and I know it's all just guessing really) we still have 6+ weeks to go. The longer we make it though the better it is for Hudson, so just keep growing little man!

And here is a picture from last week when I was 31 weeks 4 days. Roman wanted to be in the picture too (he looks blurry because he's waving).

Nursery - Phase 2

We are still slowing making progress on putting the nursery together. My mom and I have been making the bedding and drapes. We made the bed skirt last week (I forgot to take a picture of it) it's navy blue with a white pleat. Yesterday we put the bumpers together. I absolutely love the way the room is coming together. We'll probably try to do the window valance next week. It will match the bed skirt.

Here are a few pictures of the bumper pads we made for the crib.

Still a work in progress, but it is progressing!

28 week appointment

Everything looks good. I can tell that I am starting to get less nervous about losing Hudson (and more nervous about giving birth!) It helps that he is moving so much more that I am reassured throughout the day that he is "alive and kicking." Even though the kicks aer getting stronger, I am so thankful to feel him moving, growing, getting stronger! I am still measuring 1 week behind, but it's consistantly 1 week behind (this is the third appointment that it's been that way) so my doctor thinks I am just measuring small, it makes me feel better that he is growing at a steady rate. My blood pressure was was great today 112/68, I swear it's getting better, and he said I passed the glucose test with flying colors. His heartrate was down to 138 (it's been in the 140's) but he said that's normal. So all in all, things look good and overall normal. I still leave with fears...why is his heartrate down? Am I gaining too much weight? Is he growing okay? I think if I knew the answers to those questions I would find something else to worry about.

The Nursery - Phase 1

I started working on getting the nursery set up yesterday. A few months ago I had a dream, in the dream I walked into his nursery and I saw it. It was perfect. I knew right then that I wanted to do his nursery to look just like my dream. So I started looking for the perfect things for his room. Only problem, they didn't exist. Only in my dreams. So that was the minute I decided that I would have to do things myself. I found the wall vinyls online and ordered those, then I found someone who could do customized embroidery on the squares for the bumper pads. I got the vinyls then I got nervous, what if I got the room all ready then I didn't have a baby to bring home to this new adorable room. So I waited, and I waited. Finally yesterday I decided it was time to stop waiting and start doing. So I started putting them up and I am already in love.

Here's how it's turning out so far.

27 week belly shot

I finally had to give in and start wearing maternity clothes.

Wiggles and Jiggles

Hudson has started to move so much more, and I can now sometimes tell what he is hitting me with. Lately he likes to sit with his head on the left side and his feet really low on the right side.

I love feeling all the summersaults, kicks, and movements, but they are definitely starting to get harder, and I can tell he is getting bigger.

Yesterday he was pushing, I think with his head, I literally used my hand and pushed against him to push him back in. I had to do it a few times. Last night I was kind of wishing that he would do it again so that I could show Spencer. It's funny how when it's happening I think "Ouch, don't do that, it hurts." Then later I wish I could feel it just one more time. I am sure there will be many more headbutts to come.

24 Week appointment

Last Wednesday I had my 24 week doctors appointment. I had to do the glucose tolerance test at that appointment. I was really dreading it. Everyone kept telling me how awful the drink was, and I was prepared to be sick. The doctors office sent the drink home with me and asked that I drink it 30 minutes before my appointment time. All morning I was dreading drinking that orange drink that was sitting in the fridge taunting me. I finally just sucked it up, and drank the entire thing as fast as I could. It wasn't nearly as bad as I was expecting. The aftertaste was awful but I survived.

I always try to get in as early in the morning as possible so that I have the least wait time. I didn't wait long and they got me back. Everything looked good once again. These appointments are very simple right now but help to put my mind at ease. His heart rate was 147 and I was still measuring about 1 week behind, which is okay because I had grown 3 cm (they say you should grow approximately 1 cm a week, so 3 weeks of growth in 3 weeks) and all was going well. It was funny, Hudson was hitting at the doppler while he was trying to get the heartrate. He doesn't like things that push against him. I had a few braxton hicks contractions the other day I think and my stomach tightened and released he went crazy.

The part that always makes me a little stressed is when we start talking about when Hudson is going to make his appearance. The bottom line is we just don't know. Every appointment we talk about time frames. Last appointment he said "We just need to make it to 24 weeks and he has a greater then 50% chance of survival." That actually did help me because I felt like okay, we can do this. This time he said "Our goal now is 32 weeks, but if we can wait until 34 weeks it would be better." Then when he said "That's just 10 more weeks." reality hit. We are going to have a baby....sometime this summer, it could be any time. And 10 weeks, that's not that long. (I guess 9 now, hopefully he waits more like 12-13, that would be better!)