Bucket…and basket list.

Posted on October 26, 2011 by birminghambell

My parents put me in a bucket when I was little (around 1 year old) and took pictures! Pictures. I’m butt naked too! I tried to hide all of these as the years went by. I’m very certain they still exist.

SOOOOO…..I promised myself a VERY LONG TIME AGO that I would never put my baby in a bucket to take a picture. I changed my mind. I’ve been seeing newborn pictures…and OH MY GOSH! Newborns posed in buckets, giant coffee mugs, and baskets are ADORABLE! I guess it’s time to go bucket shopping.

I can’t post any of the pictures I found online of these sweet baby pictures…BUT Google “newborn baby photo bucket”…and thank me later.

MOVING ALONG… I will do my 35 week post a couple days early…

How Far Along: 35 Weeks (well, in a couple days…)

Size of baby: 5.25 lbs (the size of a honeydew melon and the legnth of your 17 inch laptop screen) Got that second one from www.hisboyscanswim.com

Total Weight Gain: 24 lbs is what the scale says…and it’s said that for a couple weeks so I am hoping I am at a stand still!

Gender: GIRL

Movement: LOTS AS USUAL! I keep reading that her movement will decrease but so far…IT HASN’T! It so much sometimes I cringe! I used to absolutely love it…but that was when it was little love taps. Now it’s aggressive! It’s also a lot lower than normal…A LOT. Like WAYYYYYYYYY down in my pelvis…where I’m told her head is at right now. Which is good.

Sleep: This answer never changes for the better. If it’s not one thing…it’s another! Usually it’s a comfort thing…I only have two sleeping positions available to accommodate the pumpkin attached to my torso. Sometimes I have nightmares…I HATE those!!!! I’ve been told hormones cause these- I’ve had them every since the first few weeks of pregnancy, so it makes sense. They’re always about someone important in my life and I presume this is because as a mother I want to protect my baby and everyone I love who will be involved with my baby’s life- and I need all of them to be there! It’s scary to ever dream that anything happens to my family!

What I miss:

Sleeping on my stomach.
Walking at a normal pace.
Control of my bladder! WHAT?! Yea I can drink a gallon of water…have a RAGING URGE TO PEE…Then pee out a cap full of liquid. What’s up with that?! Where did all that water go? And why did I have to GO SOOOO BAD? Mysteries.
Being an awesome cook. (Is that pregnancy related?) I feel like I screw up an element of almost every dish I make lately! I blamed the first few bad dinners on our oven…but I made lasagna tonight…and it…well, it just wasn’t very good. 😦 My goal for tomorrow is to make a good dinner for John.

Cravings:

Chili Cheese pups from Krystal.
Pumpkin Pie (or my favorite alternative of butternut squash pie:))
Tacos are also in my near future.
Sprite.
and….food from a glorious place in Birmingham…FLIP BURGER. http://www.flipburgerboutique.com/# I LOVE THIS PLACE!!! They have the best martinis. Guess those are a no go for me…but what makes them so cool, is they use nitrogen to freeze the tops. So when you get your drink it’s smoking from being so cold! I plan to get a shrimp burger, fried okra, sweet potato tots, AND…wait for it….A FRENCH TOAST MILKSHAKE!!! Gosh. Heart be still. This has been one of my favorite places to eat since even before I moved to Birmingham. Please go there and treat yourself. (I ALMOST FORGOT TO MENTION THE KRISPY KREME DONUT SHAKE. LORDY!!!!)

Symptoms:

Just go to this website and be prepared to laugh! http://www.hisboyscanswim.com/473/pregnancy-gas-early-pregnancy-wifes-gas-drives-husband-out-of-house
Contractions. OUCH. They make me scared about what’s to come in a few weeks.
Feeling anxious about finishing some small things in preparation for little Harper.
Extreme thirst. EXTREME. I’m like a water buffalo. I go to a restaurant and I’m all like “don’t worry about a cup, I’ll just put my head under the spigot!”

Big things happening this week:

The outside of our house is finished with new vinyl! woohoo!
We better be carving our flippin pumpkins!
Decorating for a Halloween party on saturday.
Maybe going to see paranormal activity…in an effort to scare myself to death when John isn’t home.
Car seat installation. (Apparently fire and police departments don’t do this anymore…so John and I are following the instructions step by step to make sure we have little Harper as safe as she can be!!)
Maybe go to a new restaurant!
Finish the nursery?????? Maybe??????

(OH…MY GOSH!!!!!!! – This is my friend, Ashley’s, little boy – Easton! So adorable!!!!)

Urge to rest vs urge to nest

Posted on October 25, 2011 by birminghambell

Could it be so? The nesting urge? Maybe I was just a little freaked out by last week’s scare. I kept thinking about things that needed to be done before she could come. So John and I knocked a few of those worries out of the park this week. See our cute pack n play below! 🙂

NOTICE THE OWL!!! 🙂

We also finally put the finishing glaze on our extra bathrooms cabinets.

I was trying to get a feel of how my alphabet letters would look on Harper’s wall…something needs to be changed but not sure yet what. I’m having this crazy pregnant lady thought of I want to change the room colors. To grey and purple instead. Is that crazy? Would it be okay to change the bedding to purple? I will have to sleep on this one. It’s a bold move.

What’s the deal? I’m almost 35 Weeks PREGNANT! That is sooooo close. That means Harper could come in 1.5 weeks (minimum) or 5.5 weeks (maximum). That’s bananas.

How am I? Run down is the best word I can find. After being scared she would come prematurely I was sent home with medicines that lower my blood pressure to prevent contractions. Normal BP is 120/80. These meds lower mine to 74/40……… THAT EQUALS TIRED! I feel like a little wilted flower in the bed half of the time. I’m also on antibiotics that make my mouth taste like a horses… well, you get the point. I’m just maxed out most of the time.

What I miss:

Sleeping

feeling like I had accomplished things during my day.

Being motivated to get pretty. Poor John. He sees “Morning Bell” ALL DAY LONG.

Being tan. Neurtrogena Natural Glow Lotion…you are my savior some days.

Walking like a normal person and not like a hobbet.

What I love:

John…he sees that I am overwhelmed with stuff I want done and just chores in general and has stepped up to do then. He puts up with “lazy Bell”… he overlooks “mean Bell”…. and doesn’t care about “morning Bell”. Bless his soul.

People offer me more help when they see that I’m toting what appears to be a watermelon under my tank top. They open doors…load up groceries, load up anything really into my car, grab me buggies if my hands appear too full, and GET THIS: I ordered a pretty hefty meal at Krystal’s this weekend. The guy deemed the meal too heavy for me to carry and walked it out to my car!!!!!!!!!! SCORE ONE FOR THE PREGNANT LADY!!!!!!

People also don’t judge me when they see me pigging out on 6 plates of pizza at CiCi’s. This theory was recently tested.

Still LOVE for people to touch my stomach. It is a bonding experience for sure!

Love seeing Harper in 4D. Even if it was a scary circumstance- we can see what she will look like when she comes out! I’ve always heard that it’s exactly the same! She has such chubby cheeks!!! OUR LITTLE CHUBBY BUNNY!!!

Cravings: I really wanted Pad Thai chicken today…so I made it! It was yummy.

Big things happening:

Johns says that would be ME. He noticed I had gotten bigger in the belly overnight! Story of my life!

We will carve our first family pumpkins this week!

Jen Amerman came to Birmingham to do our Maternity pictures!!!! You can check her out at www.fondlyforever.com

We had so much fun and are both SOOOOOO excited to see the pictures!

Lastly…I thought I had a contraction earlier. 😦 If I have anymore in the am I will call the doctor and see what she wants me to do. Hopefully not stay in the hospital again…that would be TERRIBLE! I want to sleep in my own bed with my fiance. But I want this to stop.

GROW LITTLE HARPER SO YOU CAN COME OUT TO PLAY WITH MOMMY AND DADDY! WE’RE ALMOST READY!

Mommy just has a few things to do before you can come! Er…or daddy has a few things to do for mommy before you come!

I want to go home y’all

Posted on October 21, 2011 by birminghambell

This morning, I get to blog from a hospital bed. I was for sure I wouldn’t still be here-but alas…I am.
I went to my 34 week appointment yesterday a little early because I’d been having contractions. Those, by the way, turned out to be no fun.
After about an hour of being hooked up to my fetal monitor the doctor said “okay miss bell…I’m sending you to LABOR & DELIVERY.”

.……………huh?

Okay when you hear you’re heading to that floor it does sound like you’re going there to do 2 pretty specific things. Two of which I don’t want to do for another 2 weeks or more. So I had a little internal breakdown. Told John. Then went to the floor.
I was told I’d probably go home in a few hours. That didn’t happen. Still hasn’t.
6 doses of blood pressure medication (to stop contractions) and 3 doses of Demerol (and 2 less meals) later…I feel like I should be able to go home! Maybe my body will cooperate. The baby is perfect they said-it’s just mommy who is not doing as instructed!
I keep going back and forth between thinking “there’s so much to do before she can come out and meet us” and “we only have a few things we NEED to do” it’s hard to weed out the needs and wants because I want everything to be set up when she comes. But realistically if she came today it wouldnt be a complete travesty that our cabinets aren’t finished or that I haven’t hung any wall decor up. Harper wouldnt care if hadn’t mopped or vacuumed this week yet. I need to keep this perspective more than getting anxious about things that I’d like to have done.

Moving along-here is what’s going on inside of me:

How far along? 34 weeks. (that’s a minimum of 2 weeks maximum of 6 weeks before Harper comes to meet us!)

Weight gain: still at 23 lbs!

What’s happening with Harper? She is 4.5 lbs (not ready to come out yet!) and she moves A LOT! And the movement now feels aggressive!!

Cravings: Krystal chili chess pups. I’ve been thinking about those for a week!

How do I feel?
Not so awesome. I’m tired, my feet hurt, my belly is uncomfortable, and I’m in a hospital. But my hair looks pretty bangin’!!

What I miss the most: sleep.

My favorite things: long hot showers…looking at stuff for harper that we have in her bedroom…and quiet, lazy, time.

That’s all for now. My Demerol is kicking in!

Birmingham Bump Celebration

Posted on October 18, 2011 by birminghambell

Prepare yourself to explode with cuteness after watching this slideshow!! I will post the rest shortly! (After I have a stern “talking to” with my computer.)

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

My Mom’s birth story

Posted on October 11, 2011 by birminghambell

I asked my Mom to write out her birth story so I could share it! I want to have a few on here before I have my very own! I like to hear them…and they’re all so different! I imagine what mine will be like over and over in my head! Sweet John has agreed to take note of things that go on during labor when I can’t do so…that way I won’t forget some of the little things like what time things happened and in what order! (Okay I know what order SOME THINGS will go in…but ya know… some things are random!)

When Daddy and I got married, we decided to wait until we could afford to have a baby and figured it would be about 5 years. After talking to other parents, we realized that we were naïve in thinking that anyone can ‘afford’ to have a baby.

At the beginning of 1985, we decided to start a family. Pampaw would be 65 years old that summer and we wanted him to see and enjoy his grandchild(ren). We didn’t tell anyone of our plans. It took six months for us to get pregnant and for five months I cried when I realized I wasn’t pregnant. When it was confirmed that I was having a baby after six months of trying, I didn’t think any day could possibly be more beautiful than that day. I was wrong. Saturday, April 19^th, 1986 was the most beautiful day.

We were at Linda and David’s house on the 18th celebrating David’s birthday (one day late), when I realized I was in labor. I had previously had Braxton-Hicks contractions, but I knew what I was feeling was real labor. It started out very mild with a small amount of discomfort (no pain). It continued to be mild throughout the night and into the next morning. When the contractions came five minutes apart, we called the doctor and left for the hospital.

We arrived at East Ridge Hospital about 6:30 that morning. It was a beautiful spring day. Just outside of my room was a cherry tree in full bloom. From that day on, I have loved cherry trees.

I remember lying in bed, still only having mild discomfort with the contractions, thinking that labor was much easier than I thought it would be. I had imagined being in extreme pain, but was very pleasantly surprised. Of course, it was short-lived, but it was nice while it lasted.

The doctor came in to examine me and he was expecting to break my water. Unfortunately, my water had broken high the day before and I didn’t realize it. That meant that you were in danger of infection and my labor had to be sped up with the possibility of a c-section. The thought of having a c-section terrified me.

It wasn’t until then that I realized I wasn’t going to be pregnant much longer. I wasn’t going to feel you kick anymore. I wasn’t going feel your hiccups anymore. I wasn’t going to feel you get angry when the hiccups didn’t go away fast enough anymore. I wasn’t going to feel you inside me anymore. I was so heartbroken.

A few minutes later, I was given an injection to speed up my labor. My contractions went from “I can handle this!” to “Give me drugs NOW!!!!!!!!!!”. I believe I would have gone through it much easier if my labor had been allowed to progress at its own pace.

You were a stubborn little cuss. You were supposed to be face down, but you were on your right side (or maybe it was the other way around) and didn’t want to turn. The doctor was able to get you turned and you were born at 4:54 pm EDT (eastern daylight savings time). You were perfect! Ten fingers, ten toes and a head full of hair. We didn’t want to know if you were a boy or a girl ahead of time, but I knew in my heart that you were a girl. The nurses kept trying to tell me that your heart rate was too slow for a girl and I was going to have a boy. I told them no, I was having a girl. They just laughed, but we got the last laugh!

They rolled me into the recovery room and sent for everyone. Pampaw walked up beside me and I asked him what he thought of his little granddaughter. He couldn’t say anything. He hugged me and cried.

I wasn’t allowed to even touch you when you were born because I was running a low grade fever. I didn’t get to hold you until 11:30 that night and didn’t want to let you go. You were so beautiful! I couldn’t believe you were really mine.

God blessed me with a beautiful baby girl, who grew up to be a beautiful young lady! I thank Him every day for you!

One good mam

Posted on October 11, 2011 by birminghambell

I’ve been thinking a lot about this for the past few weeks. Breastfeeding. I feel like my body will do what it’s supposed to do. My girls have been giving me signs that they are going to do their fair share of the work already! Well…one of them may be a (for lack of a better term) SLACKER!!! I anticipate myself referring to the hardworking one as “my good boob”… I’ve heard that usually one side responds more than the other ….but I think one side of my lovely lady lumps is going to produce A LOT more!!
I’ll try not to say anything else negative about lefty Lucy from here on out as to give her a fair shot at success.
moving along.

I plan to exclusively breastfeed. You heard it right. She will ONLY have what I make if everything goes as planned. (but if not I won’t have hard feelings on the ole girl!;)). I really want to be able to accomplish nursing and know that I am the sole provider of Babys nourishment and am responsible for her on a whole new level! I do want her to get used to taking bottles with pumped milk in them because I want John to be a big part of this process as well. I worry that she will attach so much to me that she won’t want a bottle. I hear that creates some hardships. If your baby will only take the boob, you can’t be away from her more than a couple hours! That’s no bueno. I anticipate I’ll want to run to the store or church etc and leave her with daddy or at the church nursery for a little while. Long story short-I’m praying this works out for us! I’ll keep focused on the positive things!

For now though…my good boob and I are going to bed. Goodnight!!

Forcast for the next 2 weeks: SHOWERS!!!

Posted on October 10, 2011 by birminghambell

I would’ve posted this sooner if my computer hadn’t been blatantly defying my authority.

Now on to the good stuff…

This Sunday I went to my first baby shower!! I am fortunate enough to have such great people in my life who were willing to do this for me! My best friend, Mother, and Aunt (and all of their husbands) went out of their way to make this pretty Georgian shower happen- and to make it awesome!

Here is the invitation:

SUPER CUTE, RIGHT???!!!! They found this on Etsy.com… If you’ve been reading up you will already know I have a thing for cute baby owl things…so this was just PERFECT!

John and I arrived shortly before the rest of our guests did to check out all the cuteness that had been assembled for me. I quickly put him to work making paper pom poms for decorations.

On the Menu:

Fruit punch and personalized owl water bottles
Piggies in blankets
Ham & turkey croissants
Cheese plate
Baked macaroni and cheese (YUM)
FRIED PICKLES!!!!!
Banana cupcakes (So good, I’m still eating them!!)
Chocolate cupcakes

It’s already clear I had a couple of favorites on the menu. 🙂

We all sat down and mingled while eating…then, on to the BABY’S NAME ANNOUNCEMENT!! This was really exciting for me because I have been holding onto this name for months! I decided to get fortune cookies custom made for me with her name on the little pink fortunes inside...THEY WERE AWESOME! I was debating keeping the name a secret in the beginning because…well…I’M TERRIBLE AT SECRETS! There. The cat’s out of the bag. But it started to become fun when only John and I had this secret and nobody else knew! Not even our parents! I 100% recommend doing this if you are expecting!

Despite letting you know I have announced the name and that I’m bad at keeping secrets…I can’t post the name yet! We have another shower in Birmingham with a whole new bunch who don’t know the name yet. You know who you are! 🙂 But I’m even more excited because I already know how fun it was the first time and I can do it all over again at the second shower!! WOOHOO! Then I can post the name!

After the fortune cookie fun I was released to open the gifts! How fun! It seemed like I took forever because Baby was lucky to get a whoooolllleee bunch of gifts!

Off the top of my head a few of my favorites were:

BABY’S CRIB!!!
Any of the owl items! (Dish set, blankets, cups…)
Pink newborn tub…I’m SO excited about bath time…I hope this baby likes baths…I HOPE!!!
Any of the hand made things…I’m into that!
My summer brand baby monitor!!
A bright pink flower canopy from potterybarnkids
All the sweet clothes I got…I loved them all! I have already hung every little dress and outfit I received up!
Diapers and wipes (I was a little nervous that we didn’t really have more than one pack stocked up yet!)

…and of course BOOKS! My best friend had a great idea of asking for children’s books instead of cards. This way I would have a keepsake forever with the gift giver’s name and message inside the book! How great is that? I loved the idea and it was a complete surprise!

During the great gift opening, little prediction and advice cards were passed around. They asked all of the guests what they predicted what day Baby would actually arrive on, the weight, and length. And my favorite part was the ADVICE section! Everyone could write what advice they had for John and I as new parents! SO SWEET!

This shower was a complete hit and I am so thankful for my wonderful friends and family for making it all happen! I’m super excited that Baby will be brought into such a great group of people and I can barely wait for everyone to meet her now!

EVERYTHING IS COMING TOGETHER!! I feel like I can start to let a few of my anxieties go now…

Stay tuned for next week’s shower pictures and details! I know it will be spectacular! John was sweet enough to order me a super special dress for it! It’s a good thing because after the last shower I realized that I can’t fit into any of my old dresses… Now, lets all hope it gets here in time!