Last Prenatal Appointment EVAH

I was looking forward to my last prenatal appointment (ever!) on Thursday morning. Well, kind of. I mean, how fun is getting in line with all the other pregnant women herded like cattle through a strange conveyor of peeing in cups, being poked and prodded and getting your dreaded bulk weighed? Answer: not much, really. But I really enjoy hearing Jellybean's heartbeat over the monitor.

Of course the drama started again Wednesday night. I was exhausted and sore. My stomach pain flared up again, along with some nice sharp jabs from Jellybean with a side of contractions. In short, I was miserable. Everything between my chin and knees hurt. Cailin got to go to bed nice and early while I retired to the comfy couch downstairs with an equally miserable and bloated Bailey. That dog doesn't leave my side these days. In fact, she was letting toots go against my leg for all she was worth. I could have cried.

I put up with pain, and acid dog farts for a couple hours and was about to heave my bulk into my own bed when Cailin woke up. She was so upset I pulled her out of bed and walked her around the house until I couldn't hold her anymore. We sat down on the couch to give my aching body a rest. She took the opportunity to grab the remote and turn the TV on. We watched a home improvement show for a while - until the couch positively quaked and rumbled. I turned to Cailin and asked her what that noise was. She pointed to her butt and told me, "Poopy!" then laughed hysterically. Apparently she had had a terrible gas pain. After that, she was all smiles and happy. We went downstairs to say good night to Daddy. She told him she had farted. He was so proud.

It took quite a while, but I eventually caught the wee squirming toddler and deposited her back in bed. It took even longer to convince her that she had to go back to sleep. The yelling of the injustice of such an act was long and loud. I retreated back to my couch since it hurt too much to lay down. I was up past 3am.

My phone rang at 8:30am. It was the doctor's office, and I knew they wanted me to come in early as soon as possible since the doctor was leaving on vacation that afternoon. I felt awful and sore. And dreadfully sick to my stomach. I ignored the phone call and tried to get some more sleep. They called the house line. And then called my cell phone back. I checked my messages. They wanted me to come in at 9:45am. That's laughable. I might be able to heave my bulk through their door at that hour, but Cailin simply does not get out of bed before oh, say 11am these days.

I rested for a while yet, then decided a shower would make me feel much better. Um, not so much. Let's just say I got sick and couldn't stop throwing up. Also? There is nothing like being nine months pregnant and vomiting. Riveting I say. I hope to never experience it again, and that's all I will say about that.

It took a while to recoup after that, and by then I had to really hurry to get my sorry behind in gear to get to that fabled last prenatal appointment (ever!). I dressed Cailin in her crib while she was half asleep and put her on the floor with suckie and blankie and told her to go put her shoes on. She immediately burst into tears, thinking I had forgotten her morning sippy cup of milk. "Juice! Juice!" she cried (everything is juice these days). I gave her the sippy of milk and ushered her to car and strapped her in. She was tired and obviously felt crappy.

The doctor took one look at us and asked what was wrong when we walked in (10 minutes late, I might add). I was the only patient in there. I explained Cailin was super tired and had been up late, and that I had been sick all morning. The doctor seemed very concerned. I thought maybe I would hang off her leg and beg her to make me feel better, but turns out she is a very compassionate woman. She had her staff give me the star treatment and I was in the examining room so fast my head spun (Jellybean is doing perfectly). She ordered me to go straight to the hospital for IV fluids and gravol. I could have kissed her feet. I love gravol.

Stats

Weight gain: 34lbs (how??)

Jellybean heart rate: 156 bpm

Jellybean size: BIG. measuring 39 weeks or so (doc was vague on that point)

My blood pressure: surprisingly 130/70

Cailin asked the doctor for a sucker (she would never forget that part) and I was reminded to head to the hospital right away. So I ran over to the office and picked Ryan up, who drove me once again to the hospital and dropped me off at the front doors. Cailin gave me the stick from her sucker - all done, Mommy! - as a parting gift. I texted Mom and Dad to keep them in the loop. I registered again, went up to Labor & Delivery and got a non-stress test right away. This would be the fourth time in L&D in two weeks if you've lost count.

This time though? The place was filled to the rafters with laboring women. There was one in there screaming like they were shooting a horror movie down the hall. She was scaring all the first timers. The one nurse (ONE NURSE FOR ALL THOSE WOMEN) kept apologizing for the wait for my gravol. Every time she came into my curtained room she had to run out to go help someone else. I put my feet up and laid back, glad for the rest. But eventually enough was enough. I had things to do that didn't include sitting in a busy hospital listening to the agonizing of my fellow preggos. I know it's a natural process, but it's unnerving after a while.

Eventually the nurse came back and asked me if I knew what I was in for. I got scared and told her no, what was I in for? I expected something dreadful - maybe a painful procedure, maybe an early c-section or something like that. She leaned in and whispered, "An IV." Pffffttt. Come on lady, I've had much worse than that! Bring it on! GIMME MY GRAVOL ALREADY. I'd been in there for almost two hours at that point.

She put the IV in, expecting me to flinch or cry or something. Which I didn't. I'm nothing if not a tough nut when it comes to pain (except obviously the last few weeks of this pregnancy of course - GET OUT GET OUT GET OUT). She put the sweet, sweet gravol in the IV bag and left me for a few minutes. My nausea went away almost immediately.

I was feeling moderately better when she came back and told me she needed my bed for another patient. I had to wheel my own IV pole out to the couch in the waiting room around the feet of several other (very) pregnant patients and sit myself down. I felt a little cheated. Gravol makes me super tired and I now didn't have a bed to lay in. Ugh. I sat and watched as my veins slurped down the first bag of fluid in record time. Eventually the nurse came back, started a second bag, inquired how I was feeling and lamented that there was no TV for me to watch back there. Um, okay. How about not having to sit in the waiting room while receiving fluids? Isn't that more of an inconvenience? I could give a rat's posterior about watching TV.

I watched the second bag disappear as quickly as the first. The nurse came in again and started a third bag. Holy cow! How much fluid did I need anyway? I was approaching four hours in there and hadn't been seen by a doctor yet. The nurse eventually came back and apologized for me getting the short end of the stick in treatment. They were having babies in storage rooms they were so busy and full up. So... they were going to send me home without the doctor having a look at me after all. If I still felt I needed to see him, he would be available at 8am the next morning. She stopped my IV, bandaged me and bid me adieu.

I left feeling decidedly... puffy. Jellybean's graph had been perfect, and he wasn't stressed at all, so I didn't feel that bad about leaving. If we could only get through until Wednesday without any more drama!

Nana had picked Cailin up from Ryan and had both girls downtown (Kelli is also here for a visit). Ryan picked me up at the hospital and we met the girls at home. I felt moderately better, but my stomach was still hurting. I packed a bag for Cailin and Mom whisked the girls back out to the farm. I miss my little girl whenever she is gone and I felt bad I was too sick to take care of her. I slept the entire afternoon. I felt better when I woke up. Bailey even behaved herself (as much as she is capable of anyway). It was so quiet without Cailin that night.

The next morning I got up and took my time showering and getting ready for the day. I made cupcakes for Kelli to decorate later that afternoon. I made the girls lunch while Nana went to painting class. We decorated the cupcakes. Cailin decorated her hair and after some futile attempts at cleaning her up, she had to be tossed in the bath. Nana came back to get the girls, but I wanted Cailin at home with me. So she took Kelli to get feather hair extensions and Cailin went for a long nap. It was a good day. After Cailin had gone to bed, I retreated to my comfy couch downstairs to watch a movie. And ended up being sick and unable to sleep until after 3am. Sigh.

Today was touch and go. I can honestly say the most energetic thing I did today was make french toast for dinner. The rest of the time I sat on the couch (with swollen feet up scaring the other residents) surrounded by more toys than I could possibly count. The entire living room looked like a toy store exploded in there. Cailin was all revved up and showed zero signs of napping and... didn't nap. By 6pm I begged Ryan to take her with him when he took the movies back. He did more than that - he took Cailin for a ride and was gone for two whole hours. I had a blissful nap on the couch and got some much needed rest.

Cailin doesn't let me rest very often. Whenever my eyes slam shut for a minute, she has to ask, "What Mommy doing? Mommy sleeping! Mommy sleepy?" and pokes me. Then laughs. What a comedian. She is talking so much these days. Her baby words are being replaced with real words and sometimes I'm surprised when she launches into a great long speech and that I've understood most of what she's said. When I stop and think that we'll have another one soon, our son, and that we'll get to watch him and listen to him too, my heart gets very full.

GG and Papa Ray are coming in the morning, and we can't wait to see them. Cailin especially talks about GG and 'Papa' a lot. "What GG doing? Where GG go? GG go Nana's house?" and then repeats everything except with "Papa" instead of "GG".

Technically now, it's three more sleeps til Jellybean's here. Lordy, I don't know if I'm gonna make it.

More Labor & Delivery Drama

First of all, we'd like to wish a very happy birthday to Auntie Rochelle for Thursday!

After going in on Tuesday to get my painful stomach issues checked out, I figured that would be the end of it until I either hit labor or my scheduled c-section. Ha!

Yesterday I realized I was spotting (so sorry to the grandfathers reading this, I know that's far too much information) and phoned the hospital. They said something along the lines of, 'get thee to the emergency room and right away'. And perhaps, 'don't have a baby today'. I'm not sure, I lost track after the 'go to emergency' part. I texted Mom I was going in.

Ryan had the car all soapy in the driveway and its contents strewn about from here to Alaska. I told him I had to go back to the hospital and that I was in a bit of a hurry. He rinsed the car off and came in the house to watch Cailin who had just woken from her nap. I took a slightly soapy car and drove myself in. I realize that wouldn't work for everyone. I wouldn't have drove myself if I was in pain or panicky. As it was though, Cailin had to be fed dinner and there would be plenty of time for them to join me at the hospital if I needed them later. Oh, all right. Cailin touches everything and she doesn't need the germs right now. She doesn't need to be in the hospital licking walls or something.

Once there, it was a snap to check in at emergency and I was able to get upstairs in record time. Plus there was ample parking to boot. The nurse on call was very kind and strapped me into the monitors again. It was a relief to hear Jellybean's unstressed and healthy heartbeat. I was having no contractions whatsoever.

After a while, the doctor on call came in and started going through his checklists. He was extremely funny and very pleasant to talk to. He put me at my ease. My blood pressure was still high though - 149/68. I've never seen my own number so high before. Jellybean's numbers were perfect. He was having a snooze in fact.

The doc ran the usual checks and it could not be determined where the blood had come from (sorry for the over-share again, folks) so he wheeled the ultrasound machine over. It was huge and ancient. He told me they used this machine back in the day when the city still had dinosaurs as residents. It was at that time that my stomach started its painful clenching again, and I made sure to tell him.

This ultrasound was wonderful. He didn't rush at all, and took time to look at every inch of my baby boy. And yes, it was more than confirmed that Jellybean is a boy. The doc showed me his little hands, clenched into fists and held over his face as he slept, his fluttering heart and his little toes. Jellybean has tons of hair - it looks like sparkles in a halo around his head on the screen.

Then Jellybean crossed his feet at the ankles and pushed into my stomach hard. And the clenching began again. So now I know why that's been so painful - he's pushing both his feet into the underside of my stomach and it is more than likely bruised from all the abuse. Huh.

The doc finished up, went to study his findings and came back for a chat. Baby is perfectly happy and healthy, everything is exactly where it should be and there are no problems to be seen. Jellybean's numbers and graph were perfect. Since I'm only 37 weeks along, he thought it best that I go home and rest. There was no urgency to remove the baby from the oven until he's baked just a little more, he said. I agreed. Then the doc tried to charge me ten dollars for using the bathroom. Just this once though, he let me go for free because I was leaving.

On my way out the door, the nurse stopped me for one more check of my blood pressure. It was sky high, but she didn't tell me the exact number. She went back to find the doctor again, but he had already left for his rounds. She told me to come back the next afternoon to get it checked again. She thought maybe after a rest it would be a lower number.

Today I made my way back to emergency, registered and went up to labor and delivery again. This is the third time this week. I'm surprised no one offered me frequent visitor discounts or something. At any rate, upon explaining the situation to the nurse on call, she immediately ordered a non stress test with the blood pressure check. Over the next 30 minutes I had several blood pressure checks (all normal or even low) and got to listen to the sweet sound of my baby boy's heart. He made a perfect graph again, and no sign of any contractions but plenty of baby movements.

Then I had to pee in a cup for protein/sugar checks (gah, I know, I know). All clear. I should be good to go until my next doctor's appointment on Thursday. From there, it's a straight shot to the following Wednesday when Jellybean will make his appearance.

11 more sleeps until his arrival. Holy thundering tarnation and a hand grenade. Or something. I'm gonna burst from the excitement. Or maybe that's just my bladder.

Dang Cats Anyways

I'm not a fan of cats. Before this last week though, I wouldn't have said that cats were the bane of my existence. That's a tad dramatic. This week however? I'm saying it freely, dramatic or not: cats are the bane of my existence.

We're about the only idiots on the block without a cat. I say this because everyone else obviously knows something we don't about those feral felines. I do know that they make my nose water and eyes itch fantastically and that Ryan is deathly allergic, but aside from that, I don't know much.

What I do know is that since we don't have a cat, our yard seems to be neutral territory and all the neighboring cats feel that it's public damn property. I wouldn't mind if a cat wandered through once in a while, but it seems like every five minutes there's a new one in the yard. I can't let Bailey out without first going out and doing a cat sweep. Bailey is terrified of cats (and also wildly unassuming) and I would hate for her to get injured from some strung-out feline. Plus there's the fact that they hunt and kill birds in our yard. That drives me crazy. I'm not keen on the birds getting killed of course, but I realize even cats have to eat (food chain and all that). The problem is the disgusting mess left behind, because let's face it, cats aren't very tidy in their bird maiming/eating frenzy. I don't need my kid or dog playing in remnants.

Of course because our yard is neutral territory, the cats choose to hold their fights there. Cat fights produce the most unsettling noises I've ever been privy to. The usual location for said fights is right outside our bedroom window in the flower bed. I've woken more times lately with the hair standing straight up on my neck than I care to mention. While it explains my wild hair and lack of sleep, I could totally do without all that wretched yodelling.

I imagine the cats have set up their own kind of UFC fighting to be held amongst my precious hollyhocks and poppies. The players in no particular order:

The General

A grey and grizzled war vet. Covered in scars, fresh and old. Sometimes bloodied by a recent battle. Big and confident, this tomcat isn't scared away easily. Can yodel with the best of them.

"Muffy" The Muffin

Muffy is a fluffy unassuming orange house cat. Generally shy, but fairly sweet. Wildly unintelligent. Bullied by most of the other cats on the block. Has to be saved from certain doom several times a week. Also needs to be removed from under vehicles before proceeding to leave the driveway. Bit of a shmuck.

BOW (Black on White)

Wily cat that's new to the neighborhood. Unafraid of being shooed from the yard or driveway. Refuses to leave the yard even when asked politely. If there is a disturbance amongst the cats, this guy is right in the middle of it.

WOB (White on Black)

Brother? Sister? Er, sibling, to BOW. Also wily. Also will not get the hell out of the driveway, yard or flowerbed. In great danger of bodily harm. Backs up BOW in most cat disturbances, or is the cause of them.

Those are the four main players. Of course, it seems like every second day there's a new cat I haven't seen before sauntering around our property. I'm at my wit's end trying to keep them out of the yard and away from pooping in my flowerbeds. That's not the worst part though.

The other day I went down the hall to grab a diaper out of the closet. A great big fluffy orange cat passed me in the hallway, leaving the playroom. I let out a most unladylike gasp/shriek he had scared me so badly. If I hadn't just emptied my bladder prior to that, I would have done it then. The cat, Muffy, exited stage left through the open deck door and under the fence to his own yard. After the fact, Bailey came to my rescue and barked at him from behind the safety of the deck rail. Thanks, dog.

Muffy is an okay cat, but that's outside. I will not tolerate cats in my house! We don't have a cat dammit, there's no reason for one to be inside our sanctuary! Also? Damn, he's big close-up.

Yesterday, BOW or perhaps WOB was in the house (I can't tell them apart). I just about lost my mind, chasing shrieking and trying to find something to throw at him. If I could move just a little faster I would have kicked him right over the rail of the deck. As it was, he was rightfully afraid of the slow moving, slightly waddling freight train of a woman coming after him. He made it through the deck rails and onto the safety of the ground with tons of time to spare, however he sauntered around just out of my reach for what I deem an unnecessary amount of time.

Today those rotten brother cats were both in my yard hunting birds along with yet another unknown feline. I went out the back door to chase them out of the yard, but they would only go so far without me donning shoes and actually chasing them. Since some lovely bird put a poo poo in my Croc on the back step, there wasn't any chasing about to happen.

I have completely had it. How on earth am I going to get rid of all these cats? I was going to be nice and say they could wander through my backyard, but with the recent intrusions INTO MY HOUSE, I say it's war. Any cat on my property from this point on had better be willing to take the heat for trespassing. I might not be very fast right now, but I will get them. Oh, I will.

To the Hospital - and Beyond

Yesterday I woke up to sharp pains in my stomach. I thought maybe I had rolled on Jellybean and he was fighting back, but that wasn't the case. For the next hour I lay as still as I could while my stomach clenched and hurt. On top of that, I was having some lovely contractions. Now I'm no stranger to contractions, but I didn't know how to process the stomach pain on top of them. My poor belly hardened into a tight ball and wouldn't relax. Even a steamy shower didn't do any good. It stayed painful and hard as a rock for the next hour.

I hummed and hawed about what to do next. Nobody wants to be the girl that cried wolf (er, labor) at the hospital and be sent home in embarrassment. I wasn't convinced that this was even labor I was experiencing. Then I thought about it - how would I know if it was labor or not? I've never been through it before! I called my baby doctor and she said something along the lines of 'get thee to labor and delivery and do not have a baby today'. Okay, I can do that. I hope.

I texted Ryan to come get me, painfully got Cailin up and what passes for dressed these days and made her a snack. My belly felt like it was going to rip in half; I was nauseous but couldn't barf. I managed to chase Bailey outside and get us all ready for when Ryan got home. Upon his arrival at the house, the iPhone charger had to be located (in the truck), truck keys had to be found (on the bookshelf, safe from Cailin and also Ryan's searching eyes) and the truck's car alarm had to be neutralized (bringing a concerned neighbor to his kitchen window to ask if everything was alright - he had just had his own truck stolen a few weeks ago down south).

Let me just say our hospital is a complete gong show. I painfully waddled to emergency, hand on belly and Health Card in hand, my best 'I'm in labor' face on. The lineup up went up and down the hall and no one gave me a second look. After a few minutes of waiting I decided to go straight up to Labor & Delivery instead. The nurse on duty there immediately sent me back to the main level to register at Out Patients. I did, and made my way back up to L&D and onto the OB Triage room.

They hooked me up to monitors - one for the baby's heartbeat and one to measure contractions. Somewhere in the elevator the contractions had lessened and weren't very strong now. However, the clenching in my stomach hadn't abated at all, nor had the pain. They took my history, had me sit for 20 minutes to get a good look at the graph the monitors were making and had me lay back and rest. My blood pressure seemed high - 145/84 - but they didn't seem concerned about it. I was pretty happy to see Jellybean's healthy heart rate and be able to see his movements via the contraction numbers. Meanwhile, Ryan was having a terrible time finding/paying for parking in the shockingly ridiculously undersized hospital parking lot.

Eventually Ryan was able to get the truck parked, Cailin in a stroller and get up to where I was (after a bit of a search). Cailin wasn't sure what to make of all the monitors and such, but she was happy to sit on the bed with me and beat me up a bit before settling in to eat some crackers. My baby doctor surprised me by throwing back the curtain and checking on me to see if I was in fact in labor. In short order it was determined that I wasn't - but that it is not far off at all. I explained my issue to her and got a Zantac and some toast for my efforts. She thought I had some gastro problems.

After a little more monitoring, they told me to go home and take it very easy. If my pain didn't go away or got worse, please come back right away. So I did turn out to be the girl who cried wolf - er, labor - after all. Don't get me wrong, I was relieved Jellybean wasn't coming early - at 36.5 weeks, it is still a little too soon for him to make his appearance. But I am so done being pregnant that it's not funny. I feel really bad for those that go weeks past their due date.

Mom met us at home and took Cailin for the afternoon so I could rest. Ryan had to run back to work. Bailey and I snuggled up and took full advantage of the break and slept all afternoon. When I woke up I felt better. My stomach was still sore, but it wasn't doing that awful clenching thing anymore. It started again later, but not as badly as before.

Cailin had a great time shopping with Nana. She even got to go see Papa at the office! When Mom dropped her off at home, she gave a little wave and said, "Bye Nana!" at the door. She is really starting to talk these days.

Today I feel better. My stomach is still sore, but nothing like it was yesterday. Everyone is tired and dragging their feet. The weather is bizarre today - windy and sunny, then it pours buckets of rain, cloudy, back to dazzling sun, just in time to pour rain again. It's not that warm. It's the kind of day you lay on the couch with a blankie and do nothing. Coincidentally, that's exactly what I'm supposed to be doing. Can't argue with that!

Updates, Updates, Updates!

Oh boy, has it really been a month since I posted last?? Things have been crazy busy here for the last month.

The House:

We've been working on the house every chance we get. Cleaning, organizing, moving furniture, and generally getting ready to welcome the newest member of our family. We still have a few things to do, namely get the spare room ready for guests to stay in, but baby-wise we are all ready to go. We hung some light fixtures in the kitchen, painted some of the ceiling and - oh, yeah - built a deck. The deck is wonderful! We've been enjoying every moment we're able to outside.

We also got a new sectional couch, moved the other furniture around the house to make room and put together the new TV stand for downstairs. Did I mention all the cleaning, organizing and tidying we've been doing? Here's a pic of Ryan and Cailin enjoying the new couch after a long night of teething on Cailin's part:
Cailin:

Is learning new things every day. She's talking a lot more, and speaking in sentences. She had two birthday parties on two weekends in a row. The first was rained out, but the second one we had for the family had decent weather. We were able to set up the bouncy house and let the kids go bonkers. I didn't manage to get a single picture of that party, and didn't realize it until later. I'm glad everyone else had their cameras going! It was a wonderful day, with family from near and far showing up to celebrate. I made cupcakes, we had BBQ food and it was just a nice, relaxed visit.

Cailin has recently undergone what we think is an allergic reaction to something she ate. She has a rash under her arm that has been extremely persistent to clearing up. I took her to the doctor after trying two different pharmacists' recommendations. She's now got Benedryl to take and a prescription cream to try and clear up this rash. Her tonsils are also swollen and sore, so I have antibiotics to give her if she takes a turn for the very sickly in the next few days. I'm hoping the sore throat and rash aren't related.

Cailin surprised me last week by asking to go potty - on the big potty - all by herself. It seems like she's been motivated to learn by her older cousin Grace. She's been trying every day now, but usually she's already peed by the time she actually gets on the potty. At least she knows! She doesn't want any help either, telling me no and pushing my hands away. She wants to do it all by herself.

Visitors:

GG and Papa Ray came and stayed in Beaver City for a week. Grace was there too, and she and Cailin have been really good buddies. They play together really well and have so much fun tearing around the farm. It was so nice to have everyone out and get so much visiting in!

Papa Ray built railings/seating on the deck at the farm (Papa and Ryan helped). It looks really nice. GG fixed all the flower gardens up, and does that ever look nice! The yard is really coming together. It was hilarious to drive out one day and see Papa Ray on one lawn tractor, Nana on the other, and Papa running the push mower while GG weeded the gardens. It was Put-Your-Guests-To-Work-Day at the farm apparently.

We got to do some shopping, chase after kids, and got lots of visiting in besides. Grace is going home soon, she's been in Beaver City for two weeks now. Cailin is going to miss her!

Bailey:

Terrorized by several thunderstorms - including a very dynamic one right above the city - and pooped on the new couch. Still in the doghouse. 'Nuff said.

Weather:

Aside from the sort of sunny/windy/somewhat chilly weather we had while GG and Papa Ray were here, it's been raining non-stop. It rained so much and so hard that our basement leaked a little water. We were lucky though - other houses had as much as a foot of water in their basements. After making an irrigation ditch to lead water away from our house, we've been problem free. But oh! the rain, it just never stops! Actually, today was the first day in over two weeks where it stopped for any length of time. The sun came out for a while too - just in time to give a brilliant sunset. Hopefully that's the end of the rain for a while - Ryan's getting sick of BBQing in the rain:Jellybean:

Is doing very well. I've had several doctors' appointments in the last month. I got in to see the surgeon and the c-section is booked for August 3rd. That means less than 20 sleeps until we get to meet this wiggly wonder. He's measuring 36 weeks at 35 weeks along. I'm assuming he'll be keeping that ratio up for the rest of his duration 'baking'. His heartbeat is strong and healthy and moves around a great deal despite his lack of elbow space.

Me:

I'm (we're) currently 36 weeks along. I'm getting to the very tired, very done feeling stage. At the end of the day I'm so tired and achy that I usually just crawl into bed without much reading (and obviously without any blogging). Of course, that's about the time Jellybean wakes up and does his daily cycling workout.

I've been experiencing some very painful contractions. I can't help but think OH BOY HERE COMES LABOR when all the pain starts. Contractions are worse on days when I'm really busy and on my feet a lot. Also? My bladder seems to have shrunk to microscopic levels. I get up more times a night than Bailey does. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

We're on the go doing stuff every single day and before I know it, it's bedtime again. The days are shooting by in a big blur. As much as I want to be done with pregnancy - on the other hand, I want time to slow down to enjoy every moment of this summer.

I'm enjoying every second with Cailin and watching her learn and grow. She's figuring things out and starting to problem solve. Can't reach something? No problem, build a ladder to reach it. The kid's a genius when it comes to climbing.

I have a lot of stories to tell from the Adventures of Cailin and Grace, but those will have to wait for now.