Peanut's Nursery

We are finally in the home stretch! Our little Peanut is set to arrive anytime this week. We had a lot of last minute things to do to get ready for her arrival, including finishing her nursery. As you might remember, Peanut's future room had been used as a guest room since we moved in three years ago. So we had a lot to do to transform her room into a place for a princess. This is what the room looked like before we cleaned it out...

 And here it is ready for painting. Pop-Pop, Sir and Uncle Jon helped Daddy in late August to take the furniture to Goodwill and Mimi and Pop-Pop came up in September to paint the room a nice, cheerful yellow. We are so blessed to have such wonderful family to help us with such things, huh?

Finally, our old crib had a dreaded drop front so Aunt Jenn and Uncle Jon loaned us their new static front crib for Peanut. Big Brother Noah "helped" Daddy put it together.

 Jump forward to today. The week before our baby was set to arrive we finally finished decorating and adding some new funtionality to the closet. Not a moment too soon! Big Brother Noah can't wait for his little sister to arrive and couldn't wait to show off her room.

 First off, the wonderful people at Closet World transformed our ordinary closet into a really awesome place  for our little girl with tons of storage and drawer space. This is the left side complete with hanging space that will grow with Peanut.

 And this is the right side. The drawers and shelves are built right in and eliminated the need for a dresser.

 Now for the rest of the room. Here is the changing table...

 Here is the crib and rocking chair. We repurposed Noah's Classic Pooh decor. It looks fabulous with the yellow walls. Hurray for unisex baby themes!

And here is a view from the door. We love the wall color so much!

So there you have it. A beautiful new room for a beautiful baby. Now all we need is the baby! We can't wait for you to arrive this week, Peanut...our house is all ready for you!

Only Two Weeks to Go...

Hi, everyone! Yep, that's big old pregnant me with only two weeks to go!

So what have I been up to for the last two weeks? I've been going to have non-stress testing (that's monitoring with a limited ultrasound) twice a week and visits with my OB/GYN once a week and so far all is well. Peanut has remained in the proper birthing position (thank goodness) and all her fluid levels are fine. The monitoring started to pick up small contractions last week but so far, I am not feeling them so no cause for concern quite yet. My orders from the doctor are to go to the hospital as soon as I start to feel the contractions with discomfort. Since this is my second baby, Peanut could come quickly. So we are all prepared for the unexpected.

In the meantime, I am resting quietly at home (when I am not in a doctor's office, that is) and trying very hard to relax. My Mom and Dad have been wonderful and have come up several times to help me with some of the final touches on organizing Peanut's room and making room in other parts of the house for stuff we were storing in her closet. Jeff and I have almost finished the nursery (I promise photos by the weekend). Just need to hang some pictures and put some other finishing touches on her new space. And Big Brother Noah is actually getting excited about his little sister's arrival. He knows that she will need lots of care and that we will have to feed her and change her diapers and that she will cry a lot since she won't be able to talk. He can't wait to push her in her baby swing, sing her songs and hold her. It's really quite sweet.

So hopefully Peanut will arrive within the next week or so. Please keep us in your prayers and hope for an easy delivery. More to come...

Ultrasound #6: Peanut Turned Herself!

This is just a quick update to let everyone know that we went to our appointment with the perinatologist yesterday expecting to have to undergo the external version procedure to turn our little Peanut from the breech position and guess what? As soon as the sonographer began the ultrasound she said, "hey, she turned." We all stared at each other in disbelief and said, "she what?" 

That's right, our little breech baby turned herself into the proper birth position all by herself. What a girl! So we avoided an unpleasant procedure and went home feeling much better. Whew! But I am now going to be monitored twice a week from here on out (which includes the baby being monitored and an ultrasound) and the doctor gave me an abdominal binder to help keep Peanut in place so we decided it was time for me to go out on maternity leave. So as of Monday I will be home for the duration of my pregnancy resting and keeping calm (I hope). My nice sweet Mommy has agreed to come up to help me with some last minute baby room organization so I don't overexert myself. So I will definitely have nursery photos to post in a few weeks

I thought I'd leave you with a few Peanut stats. She is already almost 6 pounds, which puts her in the 48th percentile on weight, and her head and length are both average, which is great. It looks like she will surpass Big Brother Noah's birth weight of 6 pounds, 9 ounces, and 18 inches. Amazing! So other than her gymnastics over the last few weeks, she is doing just perfectly! She is a wild girl for sure but we wouldn't want it any other way.

Thanks so much to all of you who were praying and thinking about us yesterday! We appreciate it so very much.  Sorry I don't have any pictures this time but we didn't get any good ones. Peanut is getting too big to be photographed and she was moving too much and would not stay still for the camera. Maybe next time...

34-Week Update

Hi, everyone!

I went to see my regular OB/GYN today and Peanut is still in the breech position. The doctor did not think that she would turn on her own at this point as she is quickly running out of room in there. We are now less than two weeks from seeing our perinatologist and it looks like I will have to undergo the external version procedure after all. Good news is if it works, I will avoid a C-section. Bad news is I could go into labor during the procedure (good Lord, right?) and if successful I will definitely have to go on maternity leave at that point, which is a few weeks earlier than I planned.

Other than that, I am enjoying the last few weeks of my pregnancy. Peanut is about 4.5 pounds, growing right on track and kicking up a storm in there. I could actually feel her trying very hard to turn on her own last weekend. I think she gave it her best shot but she just didn't have the space. Good try, little one! I'm feeling pretty good with only 6 weeks to go even though I am very tired at the end of the day and not exactly sleeping soundly. But that is to be expected at this point. Bottom line, I can't wait to meet our baby girl so I can kiss her and hold her and love her at last. Just don't come too soon, OK?

Our appointment with the perinatologist is on October 26. I will definitely post an update after that appointment to let you know how it went. In the meantime, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers over the next few weeks...

Ultrasound #5: 8 Weeks to Go!

 We had our fifth ultrasound on Friday, September 30. Loving being of advanced maternal age! Daddy, Mimi and Pop-Pop were on hand for the show. We soon discovered that our little Peanut is still in the breech position. Her head, arms and right leg are all bunched up in her face and she is hanging out with her head on my right side. No wonder that's where I have been feeling most of her movements. Yikes!

Here's your standard ultrasound image of Peanut at 32 weeks. She had hiccups during the scan so I think those are bubbles coming out of her mouth. Hee, hee!

 Here's a 3D image of Peanut and you can see her hands in her face. Now you might be asking yourself, "Wow, that could not be comfortable, right?" Well, our little darling has been pretty comfy in this position for most of the pregnancy so I would venture to say that she doesn't mind it one bit. 

So what does this mean? Well, I have a regular appointment with my OB/GYN next week and if Peanut has not yet moved into the "normal" birthing position, there is a good chance that at my ultrasound appointment on October 26, we will be trying an external version. This is a procedure where they will gently push on my lower abdomen to turn her in the head-down position. Since this is my second child, we have about a 60% chance of successfully turning Peanut and avoiding a C-Section. If they do the procedure, I most likely will have to go out on maternity leave at that point since we would not want to run the risk of her going back to where she is obviously comfortable. If it doesn't work, it looks like we will schedule a C-Section for the end of November. I'd love to avoid that as much as possible but our little one has her own thoughts on that matter so we will just have to hope for the best.

During the scan, I said, "Well, looks like we might have quite a problem child on our hands." The ultrasound tech said, "Oh, I wouldn't say that. She's going to be an independent thinker and a leader." I'll keep telling myself that, nice lady. 

But seriously, despite all this drama, Jeff, Noah and I could not be more excited about Peanut's arrival! Noah especially can't wait for his little sister to be born and tells everyone he meets all about it. I'm not sure he quite understands the permanence of this whole thing, but I'm sure he will be the best big brother on the planet.

I will leave you with an awesome image of Peanut's little fist. Mimi thinks it's her way of saying, "Stand with the breech babies! We will not go down without a fight!" Sigh.

So stay tuned for more news on our little breechy one. Next up: photos of her nursery...

Ultrasound #4: 12.5 Weeks to Go!

 

We had our fourth ultrasound today and all is well! Pop-Pop and Mimi joined me once again (I think they are addicted to this whole ultrasound business) and Peanut put on quite a show. She was moving and squirming the whole time. Peanut is currently 2.5 pounds and is placing in the mid-percentile for weight, height and head circumference. So she is growing well and looking very healthy to the doctor. So we are right on track! Above is a traditional ultrasound picture. I love how you can see her little lips.

And here's the creepy yet awesome 3D photo. The tech took lots of these for us but this is the best one. Peanut is actually sticking out her tongue. Silly, baby! And she still looks an awful lot like Big Brother Noah. I love it!

Unfortunately, Peanut is still not in the traditional birth position. Last month she was breech and now she is transverse. This means that her little spin is flush against my stomach and her arms and legs are dangling down toward the ground. The good news is that we don't really have to worry about her positioning until 36 weeks or so. For now I have to suffer through her double kicks and punches to my bladder. She is going to be a lovely child, huh?

OK, as promised, I had Mimi take a quick photo of me at the zoo last weekend so you all could see how big I am getting (I've gained 19 pounds so far...whew!). Embarrassing but I want Peanut to have a few photos in her memory book of what her old Mama looked like with her inside of me.

Because I am in the elderly pregnancy category and considered high risk for my age, we get to have another ultrasound at the end of September and monthly from here on out until I deliver. It's pretty awesome to get to peek at our Peanut so often (we only had one sonogram and one ultrasound with Big Brother Noah). Mimi and Pop-Pop have already reserved their seats for the next show (I told you they are addicted). So stay tuned...

Oh, and we are well on our way to getting Peanut's bedroom in order! Mimi and Pop-Pop are going to paint next week and we will get the furniture in after that. So stayed tuned for photos of Peanut's nursery (maybe even before the end of the month)...

Last Trimester, Here I Come!

Hi, everyone!

Just wanted to give you a quick Peanut update for this week. I will be 27 weeks pregnant tomorrow so that means I only have 13 weeks left before our little Peanut arrives. I am also officially in my last trimester. Whew! I can't believe it! This has been such an easy and fun pregnancy. I'm much more relaxed since this is not the first time I've done this and I am enjoying feeling Peanut moving around inside of me. She is a prize fighter for sure!

This weekend, all the lovely men in our family are coming up to our house to help us get our former guest room ready for Peanut (Noah and I will be taking Cousin Ella and the grandmas to the Zoo so we stay out of the way). They will move out a queen bed, dresser, two night stands, bookshelves, miscellaneous boxes and a big heavy TV (which is going to Great-Grammy Mary's house...Livingston men, you can thank us later). Next weekend, we are going to pick out new big boy furniture for Noah so that we can finally get him out of his toddler bed and move his baby furniture into Peanut's room. I already ordered some really awesome train bedding and such for his new room. He is so excited! We will still need to paint Peanut's room a nice, pleasant girlie color (right now it is a lovely burnt sienna) so I'm sure we'll look at paint samples next weekend, too. She will get Noah's beautiful unisex Classic Pooh bedding and decor for her room as well as all the accessories that go with it (thank goodness we went neutral last time around). So stay tuned for before and after pictures of both rooms in the coming weeks...

So how am I feeling these days? Well, I've gained 15 pounds and Peanut is growing perfectly! So I am getting quite big. Maybe one of the grandmas will take a picture of big old me at the Zoo and I'll post it next week. A few weeks ago I had pain in one of my sciatic nerves, which made it a bit hard to walk around. On top of that, I had pain in one of my calves that got worse in the middle of the night. When I told my OB/GYN about it at my appointment last week he said, "oh, yeah, that will happen." Fortunately the pain went away in a few days. Sheesh! I'm also getting a bit more swollen in my feet and hands especially (had to take my wedding rings off last week and I am now wearing them on a chain). And of course I am getting less and less sleep and more and more tired as the weeks go on. But other than that, I am really doing quite well for an elderly pregnant gal. Ha!

On Wednesday, August 31, we will have our fourth ultrasound so I will definitely post photos next week of Peanut. Mimi and Pop-Pop are going to join Jeff and I again this time (they can't get enough of the Peanut Show). So stay tuned...