Birthing class day 1

Jared and I went to a birthing class the other day and the doctor said "Just a piece of advice: If your water breaks while you are at the grocery store, just drop a jar of pickles and run away."

LOL

I can do this!

The ultrasound was very good today! They score the baby on a scale of 1-8, and our little guy got an 8! He weighs 5lbs give or take 5oz. Which is a little bit small, but still in the "normal" range. Jared made me drink 5 liters of grape juice this week, and believe it or not, it actually DID improve the fluid levels! The ultrasound tec also told us that the little stinker is still breech. Which didn't surprise me at all, because I can feel his head in my ribs, and every once in a while he will stick it out near the top right side of my stomach, and I can SEE and FEEL his head with my hands.

We also discussed having the doctor turn the baby, so I could have a natural delivery. Doctor Evan's said that the odds of an External Cephalic Versions working for me are are at best about 20% because I have lower fluid levels, and it's my first baby (that makes it harder to turn him) Also, the placenta is anterior which makes it not only dangerous to try to turn him (because the placenta could abrupt), but very hard to do, because it would be like trying to turn him with a big pillow in the way. Also, he said that the ultrasound machines can't tell us if the umbilical cord is wrapped around his neck or not. SO, we decided that turning him for a natural delivery isn't worth all of the risks involved, especially if the chances of it actually working are so low anyways. We followed the doctors advice, and are planning on having a c-section unless by some miracle the baby decides to turn on his own. The C-section is tentatively scheduled for November 11th. That's THREE weeks from now! We will finalize the date of the c-section on Tuesday at my next doctors appointment.

I actually feel really good about this, and im SO relieved for some reason. It will be nice to know the exact date that he will be here, and best of all I don't have to worry about ME doing anything wrong. All I have to do is show up....lay on a table, and whooola a few minutes later I will have a baby. Recovery might be a big bummer, but i'll do what I have to do to get this baby here safely :)

Throwback to the small bump earlier this summer, I can't believe how much bigger my baby bump is now!

Bauer is ready for me to stop posting pictures of him on the blog and start posting pictures of baby!

My longest blog post ever.

Excuse me for a few minutes while I brag about the good deals I got on all my cute baby stuff :)

When I would babysit my neighbor's baby in high school, this was my favorite item in his nursery. His glider chair was so comfortable, and he would just fall asleep in my arms. I loved it because the ottoman glides too... making it really easy to rock back and forth with out any work. The only problem is, these chairs are a couple hundred dollars, and we don't have that kind of money just laying around.

One night, Jared just happened to see an advertisement on our school's "craiglist" page for this lovely glider chair! A lady was having her second baby, and didn't have room in her tiny apartment for this chair. So she was selling it for SUPER cheap. I can't wait to rock my own baby in it!

This is our lovely Chicco car seat! It is exactly the one I wanted. It took me forever to decide on this brand, style, and color.

I chose this Chicco car seat because it secures the baby from 4-30lbs, which means the baby can go straight to a booster from this car seat....which saves money because we won't have to buy a forward facing car seat, before the booster. It is also rated #1 in America for safety and ease of use. I like it because it's not big and bulky like a lot of car seats, and it's super lightweight. Chicco might be a little pricey compared to other car seats, but we got this one 25% off thanks to my friend Carley, and her Baby's R Us coupon, so really it ended up being cheaper than most. This car seat comes in TONS of different patterns, and colors, but we finally decided on this orange one. We wanted a gender neutral color, so we can use it for other kids down the road. That meant the blue one was out, the green was too boyish, the yellow was too girlish, the grey was too boring and the red was cool, but everyone has that... so we chose orange! Completely gender neutral, and something that stands out. Then our only problem was that we needed a stroller to fit the car seat.

The Chicco strollers were not only too expensive, but they didn't have any I liked. I wanted one with a single handlebar across the top, (so I can push it with one hand without it going flying sideways off the sidewalk) I wanted a cup holder for my water bottle, and a place to store my ipod. I also wanted a stroller with wheels that I could take on a walking trail with bumps and rocks on the path.
We went stroller shopping in Salt Lake, and found THIS BABY. It is a Baby Trend Velocity Jogging Stroller. It had everything I wanted (single bar/my cup holder trey/all terrain wheels), plus more! The seat reclines all the way down, it has a huge storage basket underneath, it's super easy to fold, the front wheel can lock for jogging or swivel for everyday use, and it is about 5lbs lighter than most jogging strollers. It also has a speedometer and odometer (which I completely don't need) but LOVE because I can tell how fast and how far i'm going. OH, and it has a place I can hook my ipod into, and built in speakers! I'm one spoiled mama. The best part about this stroller is the ridiculously good price we got it for. We had stopped by Toys R Us earlier that day and saw that they had a sale on strollers. We found this stroller at Baby's R Us and asked if they had the same deal going on. The lady looked at us like we were crazy, and told us she had no idea what we were talking about, but she was tired and wanted to get off work, so she just GAVE us 30% off the stroller, and we used a gift card to make up for most of the rest! FANTASTIC.

and the best part about this stroller, is that our Chicco car seat fits perfectly into it...and actually matches!


I got the travel system I always wanted, (should have been around $400) and only ended up paying about A FOURTH of that price for both of them combined. BINGO.

Here's the 8 month belly picture (35 weeks) I feel like i'm HUGE but believe it or not, i'm actually measuring small according to the doc. I compared my 7 and 8 month belly pics, and I have to agree, they dont look very much different.

I'm SUPER nervous for my doctors appointment on Wednesday. We are going to discuss the Version (process where they turn the baby upside-down) with the doctor to see if I would be a candidate for it. My fluid has been a little low, so I dont know if it would be too much of a risk to try anything like that...also, I hear a lot of women go into labor while they are trying to flip the baby around and i'm NOT ready to have the baby next week... also i'm a big wimp, and I hear that process is painful, but at the same time... I would do it if it meant not having to have a C-section. SOOOO i'll be nervous if he says that they want to try to flip him, and I will also be nervous if he says that that they wont flip him and I'm going to have a C-section. EITHER WAY I'LL BE NERVOUS. oh wait.... i'm already nervous as it is. haha even if everything goes well, and he flips on his own i'd be nervous, because I just have no idea what to expect about the whole birthing process in general! I'm a mess right now, but I guess all that matters is that he is healthy.

Welp, sorry for the ridiculously long blog post today. I will be surprised if anyone actually reads it all. I'm just in one of my talkative moods tonight, but I can't talk to Jared, because he is doing homework. OH that reminds me! We got Jared's MCAT scores this week, and are very pleased with the turnout. He did great, especially considering he didn't have months of preparation time like most guys do, because he was going to school full time and working, but even still he did very well, and i'm so proud of him. :)

Poor Deprived Dog

The baby hasn't even been born yet, and Bauer has already gotten the boot. I mean look, I haven't had a post dedicated to him in MONTHS! People keep asking me (with a worried look on their faces) "How do you think Bauer will do with the baby around?" Honestly? I'm pretty sure the first moment they meet will go something like this:

Bauer is such a sweetie. Is he big? Yes. Is he sometimes clumsy? Yes. BUT he is very obedient, and is a quick learner. I'm sure he and the baby will be buddies in no time.

This next video took place a few weeks ago. Our neighbor found a 6 week old kitten, and brought it over to meet Bauer, and...well... see for yourself.

ps Bauer is the dog in the BLUE collar. His brother, Diesel, is the one in the black collar.

Bauer was TERRIFIED, and his brother, Diesel, actually liked the kitten! So maybe Bauer just comes from a weird batch of pups, because where I come from dogs are supposed to CHASE cats.