Good Friends and Neighbors

On Thursday, JoLynn came by and gave me the sweetest gift! She not only gave me a gift card to Target (thank you so much, as I'll be needing to buy bigger diapers that originally anticipated), but she brought me these flowers from "Every Blooming Thing" for my birthday. How sweet of her!

Big Whopping Baby!

Ok- here's a quick review of what happened on Friday at the doctors.....

1. He's very healthy and is positioned just right with his head down (good boy!)

2. He's measuring very very large. The doctor said he is already more than 8 lbs and proceeded to yell "Stop growing!" at my belly at the end of the appointment.

3. They are not going to induce me because there really is no medical reason to do so.

4. His head is measuring about 10cm (that's as big as you can dilate!) which means he has an ENORMOUS head and is measuring at 39 weeks (I'm only 36 weeks along).

5. The rest of his body is measuring at 38 weeks.

6. I'm dilated at just 1/2 cm.... boo, I was hoping for more.

7. I'm 50% effaced. This doesn't really give a good idea as to when he's going to come.

Overall, I'm just grateful that he's healthy, but am super nervous about trying to push out a giant head. We're going to try to have me deliver vaginally, but if his head is too big I'm sure they will look at other options like a c-section if need be.

We wrapped up our birthing class yesterday and then proceeded to do things to try to get me to go into labor. I ate a bunch of pineapple, ate some chicken dish at Cafe Trio that supposedly puts you into labor, and went for a nice long walk around Ikea (again). Still no baby.

Come on baby, come on!

For so long I've been deathly afraid of giving birth, but I'm at the point now that I want him to come out ASAP! I've been having a constant Braxton Hicks contraction for days now... unrelenting! My back is freaking out, I don't have any clothes that properly fit anymore.... and the list goes on.

I have a doctor's appointment on Friday where my main question will be, can we induce and if so, when? I definitely want to do whatever is best for the baby's health, but I tell you what... I'm ready now! Not emotionally or mentally, but physically I'm ready!

I know this is how many women feel once they are less than a month away from the baby's due date, so I know I shouldn't complain... but I am anyway! So there!

Rollercoaster!

My last post was kind of negative, but with every low there seems to be a high (thank goodness!). Anthony is so sneeky... After giving him my news that my request to work from home was not approved, he found out some good news on his end. He came home and acted like nothing had happened. During our regular conversation I asked him what he did at work today. He responded "Oh, I got a promotion"; just like it was nothing! What a stinker! It seems that blessings come in mysterious ways. And for us, the same day we thought things were looking down, they looked up again!

We won't know how much the increase will be until December, but he's been promoted to Senior Software Engineer. He's been trying to get this promotion for some time now and really deserves it. Also, he'll be done with his Master's degree in the next month or so. We are so blessed!

I still need to figure out my work situation. I've worked since I was 15, so it would probably be really weird if I stayed home. Plus. we'll probably still need my income. I'm glad I'll have some leave with the baby so that we can determine what is best for our family.

Thanks to everyone who has us in their thoughts and prayers!

Cloudy with a ray of sunshine

So, you know how I was all excited that my work was going to allow me to work from home? Well, my boss approved it but her boss did not. I guess it was a "timing" thing. My boss's boss just took on a new role and he's apparently worried that if he officially allows me to work from home full time it will set a certain precedence that he does not want. He was previously over about 30 people, but with his new role as VP, he's over about 160 people. It makes sense that he's concerned about appearances, it just stinks that it affects our family.

My boss did, however, say that we could still have me work from home a bit after my leave and just "fly under the radar" for a while. I don't know how I feel about that. It's nice that she's trying to accommodate me, but I get concerned that since it's not officially approved that it could get me into some trouble down the road. She's really concerned that I may not come back to work without the option to work from home (which is true, since I don't have anyone to take care of our little bundle while I'm at work). She said that she cannot tell whether I'm in the office or working from home anyway (I worked from home yesterday) so it really doesn't matter to her. I actually think I get more done when I'm working from home.

So, what this means is I don't clear out my desk at work... I'll still have a cubicle and I am allowed to work from home when I'm not feeling well up to our baby's birth. We don't get a phone line for the house and we do whatever we want regarding changing our internet provider.

After my leave, I can work from home "under the radar" for a while and see how that goes... again, not so sure how I feel about that. We are going to touch base one week before my leave ends and see if my boss's boss has changed his position on me working from home. Hopefully, he'll be in his new position long enough that he doesn't worry about the appearance of things at that point.

Either way the cookie crumbles, I'm happy I will have a job when I get back from leave and have options. We've been able to accomplish a lot of things this year with my income. We got a new roof for the house, paid off the Subaru, got a new water heater, installed a new bathroom, were able to furnish the baby's room and get a new office desk (which we've wanted for years anyway). I'm not going to focus on the cloud, but focus on the ray of sunshine popping through.

Nesting

Another shot of the changing table and seating. The bassinet will go in our room while he's super little. We also got a new lamp that matches some we have throughout the house.

I purchased a cute hanging basket from Ikea that looks like a frog.

We also purchased the new bookcase. I put it together yesterday and placed some of the stuffed animals we purchased in them. Need to get more books.....

Here's his closet. I've got the left side with clothing and blankets and the right side with other baby items. I hope I have enough clothes for the guy!

Free Toilet and Free Building supplies!

If anyone needs free construction materials or a free toilet, please let us know! We have a lot of extra wood, drywall (greenboard) and cement backerboard. We'd love to give them to someone we know before just dumping it off.

On Saturday, my co-worker Nancy came by and took our old pedestal sink. The sink is actually quite beautiful and the only reason we got rid of it was because we decided that since everything else in the bathroom was new, we may as well get a new sink.

My brother-in-law Justin and his dad came by and took one of our old desks. We are cleaning out our office space in order to put the new desk we bought at Ikea in. I've got to get my office ready so that my company can come and inspect and make sure it's up to their standards if I get to work from home full-time after the baby is born. We've been wanting to update our office for quite some time, and this new desk should allow for more surface area. The other desk will most likely be going to my other sister-in-law and will be stored at the in-law's house (sorry Chris and Helen!). It's a great desk for a small space and is great for a college student.