Belly Pictures: 29W2D

Here are the 29 week 2 day pictures. My belly looks like it is ready to pop!

Childbirth Class

Frank and I attended Childbirth class Friday night. There were only four couples in the class including us so it was intimate. We watched multiple videos of actual births and were surprised that neither one of us were bothered by them. Frank kept saying "that is so cool" every time a baby popped out of someone! I think he may watch the birth of little Frankie! The class was 5 hours long but I think we both walked away happy with what we learned. Outside of the information regarding everything that will take place in birth, I also learned how to get little Frankie kicking now (which would have been nice to know last Thursday when he was quieter than usual and making me nervous). We learned that we don't really need to go to the hospital until my contractions are about 4-5 minutes apart but Frank would like to aim for 3 min! (Not happening! we will be leaving for the hospital at 5 min - assuming I can make it that long!) Our plan at the moment is to make it as long as I can without drugs and then have an epidural. Frank learned lots of ways to massage and apply pressure that will help me relax and get through contractions. It was great to have him massaging me all night! I was anxious about the class because I knew Frank was dreading it but he actually seemed to enjoy himself. I definitely feel more relaxed about going into birth after the class. We found our classmates to be entertaining: two of the women were utterly terrified! One of them kept asking the instructor questions like "what if I just freak out?" or "what do I do if I am terrified?" to which the instructor responded "I don't understand the question, are you terrified of the pain?" and the woman responded "I don't know, I am just scared!" I am very happy that I do not feel that way!

New Bouncy Seat

I went by Sears yesterday and inspected the Winnie the Pooh bouncy seat side by side with the Fisher Price seat we already have. I think maybe that particular Fisher Price seat I choose is just crap cause the Winnie the Pooh seat is much sturdier! I went ahead and bought it and I am taking the Fisher Price seat back to BabiesRus this weekend.  Here is a pic of the new bouncy seat except the one I bought is actually green. I will have to take a picture of it later.  In addition to vibrating like the FP seat, it also plays music and the toys all come off and can be changed while the FP seat had a toy in the middle that would not come off.  I am very happy with the new bouncy seat!

Glucose Test Update

The nurse called me back this afternoon to let me know the doctors decided I do not need to take the 3 hour Glucose Test. I was told to "be careful eating too much sugar"! Frank will be happy to hear that!

Uh Oh, Glucose test results!

I heard from the nurse this morning regarding my Glucose test...... She said while I passed (yay), I am on the high end of the scale so she has to talk to my doctors to decide if I have to take the 3 hour Glucose test. Hopefully, she will call back soon!

On a happier note: Frank and I bought the Travel system this weekend which consists of the stroller and baby carrier/car seat. We can now bring baby Frankie home from the hospital should he decide to make an early appearance! We haven't yet put it together though due to some unfortunate events in the nursery. During the downpours of rain this past weekend, the nursery ceiling started to leak a bit. We have to have someone come in and fix the damage and figure out where the leak is coming from. So, any plans for working on the nursery are being put on hold until we get the ceiling fixed.

Bouncy Seat: I received the Fisher price Hoppy Days Bouncer from my registry as a baby shower gift. Thinking all of the bouncy seats would be the same; I just picked one online and put it on the registry. Turns out they are not all equal! While I love the look of the Hoppy Days Bouncer, the construction was shady at best! After getting it put together, the whole thing wobbles too much for me to be comfortable placing our baby in it! I have also gotten reviews from various people that they ended up not liking the Fisher Price Bouncers at all and bought another one. Now I am off to the store to actually inspect the different seats offered to hopefully make a better choice!

Belly Pictures: 27W4D

I have received multiple requests for pictures of my pregnant belly. So here is my first one. I took these this morning. I am currently 27 Weeks 4 days pregnant.

27W Doctor's Appt

I had my 27 week appointment this morning. I got to hear little Frankie's heartbeat but no ultrasound today. The doctor said all is well. My weight gain shot up since my last appointment but the doctor said I am right on target so not to worry about it. She said I will most likely gain another 8-10 pounds in the next 13 weeks! Frankie is still measuring a week bigger so my due date may be sooner than March 9th. I had my glucose test this morning but I won't find out the results until next week. My next appointment is in 3 weeks and then I have to start going back every two weeks! Time seems to be flying by now!

Frankie is really active now! Feeling him move is very comforting but sometimes he gets in the worst positions!

Frank & I usually go to Catalina in January to celebrate our friend Foots' birthday. Frank has been on the bubble about going this year since I will be 34 Weeks pregnant but the doctor gave me her approval today! Hopefully I can convince Frank! That may be the last little vacation we get for a while!

Trip to Greenville/Baby Shower

Over the weekend, I flew to Greenville, SC to see family and attend a baby shower thrown by Jessica Bennett & Elizabeth Bynum! The shower was a lot of fun and everything was adorable! Jessica made a diaper cake and Elizabeth created these super cute Thank You cards! And the Giraffe was hand drawn by Nancy (Elizabeth's mom)! Here are a few preliminary pics. I will post more later this week.

We went dancing Friday night with Elizabeth, Megan, Nancy & Bill, and my mom. Megan and I did more sitting than dancing!

(Above) Diaper cake (created by Jessica) and framed invitation (drawing by Nancy) signed by everyone at the shower. (Below) Thank You card created by Elizabeth!

Highschool friends: Jessica Bennett, Elizabeth Bynum, Michele Daly, me, & Megan Reichert

Thanksgiving Weekend

Frank and I spent the Thanksgiving holidays with our friends in Livermore, CA.  We had a great time! All the guys were able to get in a round of golf and I did some shopping with Elizabeth and Charlie. Our original plan was to go to BabiesRus and purchase a glider/ottoman that was 50% off on Black Friday but on Thanksgiving day Elizabeth came across a mommy in Livermore from her mommy boards that had a nicer glider/ottoman that she was trying to sell. This one was bigger than the one at BabiesRus so it would allow Frank to enjoy the comfy chair in addition to me. We loved the chair and ended up spending less than we would have at BabiesRus! Once we got home, I set up the chair and the cats immediately took over! It looks like I might have company while nursing once little Frankie gets here!

I also found an adorable trash can at Burlington that fits with our safari theme and the colors were perfect!

Crib Bedding Set

We have picked the bedding set for the crib. We decided on the Lambs & Ivy Baby Cocoa set. It works perfectly with the safari theme and I just love the animals! I am going to try to create a large picture to hang on the wall using these animals as inspiration and using the paint colors from the room. Now I just need to find wall appliques of monkeys that will work well with this design or figure out a way to create them myself.

No luck with Craigslist.....

It turned out to be a very disappointing weekend with regards to the nursery furniture. The glider/ottoman we were supposed to go look at Friday night sold by the early afternoon and then we were supposed to look at a crib Sunday morning but the woman "forgot" we were coming and wasn't home! On the upside, we spent an hour or two in Babies-R-Us and finished up some of the main registry items. I am sure many of you know how difficult Frank can be when it comes to shopping but he is also extremely opinionated! But we managed to pick out a stroller/car seat combo and the bedding for the crib. Here is a picture of the one we decided on: Graco Quattro Deluxe Travel System in Deco & the matching PackNPlay in Deco:

I also discovered over the weekend that the exact glider we were looking to purchase off craigslist will be 50% off at Babies-R-Us the Friday after Thanksgiving! So Elizabeth Peace and I will be venturing out at 4:30 am the day after Thanksgiving to purchase the Glider! This will be my first Black Friday shopping experience!

Frank and I have decided to hold off on the nursery furniture and look around a bit more to see if there may be a more affordable set that we like. We have decided we like the "chestnut" color or lighter wood with the paint in the nursery but we can't decide if we want to spend the extra money for a Lifetime Crib. So many decisions! In the meantime, since Frank is the electronics expert, I have given him the task of picking out the baby monitor.

Nursery furniture

I have been checking craigslist daily for the specific cribs we like and for gliders. This weekend we are going to take a look at a glider and a crib! Hopefully both will be in good condition! Here is a picture of the type of glider we are going to look at but it is in an oak color with Khaki cushions. We are also going to look at the Munire essex crib in the Chestnut color! If both work out we could save close to $350 or more! Then all we will have left is the dresser/changing table and a bookcase. It will be nice to get the big items out of the way!

The search for baby furniture.....

After casually looking in a few baby stores, we have found a couple of furniture sets that we like and we feel they will look good in our safari room. Here are our top 4 favorites at the moment:

The Munire Essex collection in chestnut

The Munire Essex Collection in Sienna

  The DaVinci Kalani set

The Babi Italia Pinehurst collection

Vote for your favorite in the column to the left!

Painting the Nursery

Frank and I decided to go with a Safari theme for the nursery. I found inspiration from a nursery posted on Design Dazzle. I took the colors used on this site and we tweaked them a bit to find colors that we liked. After a few weeks of picking colors, we finally decided on the ones we liked and I set to work priming the room which was a blue already. Here are a couple of before pictures:

Frank had a bit of fun with some of the colors we decided not to use. We are definitely replacing the carpet now that he has added a splash of orange and green to it! The room previously did not have an overhead light. Frank installed the wiring so that we could add a ceiling fan and light. We have not picked out a ceiling fan yet so he just put a light fixture up for now. Last weekend I primed the room and last Wednesday night after work I put up the base coat for the two walls that would have stripes on them. We picked a khaki/cream color for the base. Friday, Elizabeth and Charlie flew into LA and spent the weekend helping me do the strips and solid walls. I am so happy Elizabeth offered to help! The stripes would have taken forever to do alone! We spent 4 hours Friday night drawing the lines and taping. Here is a picture of the base coat of the cream color and what the wall looked like after we taped Friday night. We ended up running out of tape twice throughout the weekend! We used 5 entire rolls by the end of the weekend.

We started the painting of the stripes Saturday morning and by 2 pm we were done with all but 1 stripe color. We painted the green, orange, and light brown stripes but had to leave the light brown to dry before we could add the dark brown stripes. It was extremely satisfying to pull down the tape after completing the stripes!

While waiting for the paint to dry and since we needed a break, we went out to dinner with Charlie who was itching to get out of the house. He was such a trooper while we taped and painted! He even did a little taping of his own for us. After dinner and bath time for Charlie, we started taping again for the dark brown stripe. While Elizabeth worked on painting the dark brown stripe, I taped the two walls that would be solid green. Then we called it a night and relaxed for a while. First thing Sunday morning we finished up the solid walls and pulled all the tape down. We were both thrilled with the finished product.

I am hoping to get Frank to add crown molding around the ceiling and we still need to pick out new carpet and the ceiling fan. Now begins the search for furniture! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you Elizabeth for all of your help!

Pregnancy Brain!

I have done/said many stupid things since being pregnant most of which I don't even remember or perhaps choose to block out. I am sure Frank remembers them all! This morning I had a routine doctor's appointment. At the beginning of every appointment my doctor's office asks you to pee in a cup. I have done this too many times to count. In fact, I made sure to drink water while getting dressed so that I would have something to give. This morning, I arrived at my appointment, and as always, the receptionist asked me to pee in the cup. I went to the bathroom (very happy to finally be able to relieve myself from all the water) and just sat down and peed! I forgot to use the cup! So now I am sitting on the toilet feeling like an idiot and hoping that maybe I have a little more to give but no. I was way too embarassed to tell the receptionist in front of the entire waiting room that I just forgot to use the cup so I lied. I told her I had nothing and she offered me some water and had me sit for a while. I will not miss having Pregnancy brain!

Ultrasound #6 11-11-09

I went for my 6th ultrasound this morning. All is well with little Frankie. He gave us a nice picture of his face. The doctor said everything looks great. They measured my cervix again (this would be the 4th time now) and it sounds like they are going to keep measuring it at every visit. I think they are just playing it safe but it would be nice to have a regular ultrasound. Although, this does mean that I will definitely get an ultrasound at my next visit! Yay, more pictures! The doctor gave me the glucose drink for my next doctors visit in 4 weeks. I have to drink it an hour before my visit for them to do the gestational diabetes testing. I don't think it will be a problem for me since my sugar levels have been fine so far. Frankie is becoming more active every day! Sometimes you can see my belly "jumping"! Frank has been able to feel him move for a few weeks now but he hasn't seen it yet. He always stops the really hard kicks when I call for Frank to take a look!

Ultrasound #5 10-15-09

Our 5th Ultrasound was October 15, 2009. Baby Pisano was 19W3D at this visit. This was the 2nd trimester ultrasound where the doctor took extensive measurements of all the baby's body parts and made sure the baby is measuring appropriately and looks healthly. Frank joined me for this visit because we were told we would most likely find out the sex of the baby. The first picture above was the 3D image the ultrasound provided us. This picture was difficult for the doctor to get because the baby had a hand in front of its face for a while. The first picture below was taken during the ultrasound measurements. And the second picture below is revealed we have a baby Frankie on the way. The penis is the little thing between the two legs near the xy on the image. Frank thought the leg above it was the penis! The doctor's response...."you wish!" We also got the results of the 1st & 2nd trimester bloodwork during this visit and our baby is healthly!

Ultrasound #4 9-4-09

Ultrasound #4 was on September 4th, 2009. The baby was 13W4D at this visit. My mom was here for this one as well and Baby Pisano put on a little show for us. When the doctor started the ultrasound the baby was unusually inactive. The picture above was the first picture the doctor took. The baby was just sitting still. We weren't seeing the normal waves and squirming 2009. The baby was 13W3D at this visit. My mom was here for this one as well and Baby Pisano put on a little show for us. When the doctor started the ultrasound the baby was unusually inactive. The first picture to the right was the first picture the doctor took. The baby was just sitting still. We weren't seeing the normal waves and squirming that we were used to by now. My mom started complaining and telling the baby to move for us and it did as she requested! The baby completely flipped over onto all fours. The doctor was cracking up and snapped the picture below of the new pose. It is really interesting how you can see the spine so clearly now.

Ultrasound #3 8-28-09

My 3rd ulrasound was 1 week after getting out of the hospital. My mom was in town and came with me for this one. Baby Pisano was 12W4D and very active!

Ultrasound #2 8-15-09

My second ultrasound was in the Emergency Room on August 15th, 2009. Baby Pisano was 10W5D. The doctors wanted to make sure the baby was doing well to rule out any complications with the pregnancy. This was Frank's first time seeing the baby and he really enjoyed it. Had I not been in excruciating pain, I probably would have enjoyed it too. The ultrasound tech allowed Frank to take a picture of the screen. His comment when he saw the baby was that the baby has my nose (I was in a different room when he took the picture). When he showed me the picture later, I commented "the baby has your nose!"

1st Ultrasound Picture 7-29-09

This was our first ultrasound on July 29, 2009. Baby Pisano was 8w2d. I asked Frank to not come to this appointment because I figured there would not be too much to see. I was able to see the heartbeat but the baby was just a blob.

Welcome to our first pregnancy!

Well, we are almost 5 1/2 months into the pregnancy and I am just now getting around to blogging. As most of you know, the first couple of months were a bit more difficult than we had anticipated! But all is well now! The baby is doing fine and I finally feel somewhat normal outside of the large belly that seems to have happened over night! I will post all of the ultrasound pictures soon and we have lots! I guess that is one good thing that came out of all the extra doctor visits! We found out on October 15th that we are having a boy - so there is a little Frankie on the way. We have not decided on the full name yet but his first name will definitely be Frank. Thanks to everyone who called, visited, and sent flowers or cards while I was in the hospital. It meant so much to Frank and I to have your support.