Maternity Photos by Rachel Manning Photography

Getting ready for Baby Charlotte

We have been busy getting ready, especially since we have decided to wait until after the baby arrives to continue our home search.  Their room is set up, all the clothes have been re organized and we even got a new/used car.  I feel a lot better now that things are complete even though it is still early.  I have a hard time bending over these days and she is taking up so much room already that I tend to just feel very nauseous most the time.  

Lillian seems to be understanding more about the baby.  Each morning when she comes in and says good morning to me, she will lift my shirt, lay her head on my belly and say, "Good morning baby Charlotte, wake up!"  The other day as I was preparing breakfast, she pulled up my shirt and pulled down the belly panel of my pants, took her picture she drew off the fridge and said, "show baby Charlotte" then put the picture against my bare belly saying, "look baby".  Lillian helped me put the crib together and we talked about her sharing her room with the baby.  We had bought a musical bear and she decided where in the crib we'd put it.  The day we finished their room she kept turning off the light, would pull the door close and say, "night-night baby" and then turn to me and say "shhhhh".  She is going to be such a great big sister and I'm very glad we have been putting routines/exceptions in place even before the baby comes.  It has helped me understand how she is processing it all and really helps me figure out what areas we need to talk about more.  I think it will make the transition much easier.  I discovered she has named her knit baby Charlotte and she puts her in the crib every night and tells her good night.  

When we went to go buy our used car (we got a 2002 Volkswagon Jetta Station Wagon with only 43k miles!  It was such a steal! but it is a stick so I am learning how to drive it)  we brought both car seats and the big jogging stroller with us to the lot to really make sure the car was big enough for our needs.  Since she remembers using the infant car seat I told her it will now be Charlotte's seat.  She insisted on bringing her baby with us and when we test drove the car she put her baby in the other car seat.  While it was in the back of the truck and we were re installing Lillian's seat in the truck, she would put her knit baby in the infant seat and rock it back and forth singing "Rock A Bye Baby".  It was so cute but I have never shown her how to rock a baby in a bassinet like that.  Turns out she saw it on Garfield!  The other morning she asked to watch it and was very adamant about watching the one with the kid (a little girl who treats Garfield like a baby); sure enough,  she rocks him in a bassinet singing the song. 

3rd Trimester

Whoo-hoo! I made it to the 3rd trimester and I can't wait to be done! We have completed our birthing classes and are feeling much more confident about the labor this time around. I was very excited about all the options Mary Birch has to offer such as birting balls in each delivery room, the ability to be up and moving, the ability to push and labor in a squatting position rather than on my back. The nurse who ran our class (which was provided by the hospital) just kept saying you can do whatever you want as long as you, baby and your OB are ok with it. Since Lillian's delivery had many ups and downs, Greg and I discussed what I wanted out of this delivery. Very simply I want the ability to move around, I don't want to be induced or have my labor augmented in any way (maybe breaking my water once I'm pretty far along) and I'm open to the idea of an epidural but I really just want to see how this labor is different going into it on my own without such strong contractions that are accompanied with being induced. Unfortunately, after our weekend getaway learning about the hospital I very bluntly asked my doctor the likelihood of him being the doctor to deliver me..... his answer.... only 10%. So that really means, as long as I'm doing well, the baby is doing well and the on call doctor is ok with it then I can have the delivery I want. Since it is based on who ever is "on-call" we have decided to go to the hospital as late as we can. We will most likely head down and walk around outside without being admitted in hopes that walking and gravity will help speed labor along (and considering how fast my labor was by the time contractions actually started I anticipate this to be a fairly easy delivery). 

Charlotte is very low these days and I've been having a lot of pelvic bone pain and tailbone pain.  I have started staying home more and resting; it has improved my pain quite a bit so that is the plan for the remaining 7-10 weeks.  Actually after a week of being home I took Lillian out in the morning just to run to a couple stores and I think the lifting her in and out of the car seat and shopping cart really aggravated it again.  So if I was doing that for an entire week no wonder I was having so much pain! I have been having regular Braxton Hicks for a while now and they usually come at night.  When I was out and about most of the week I'd have them at least 3x a week but now that I'm resting more I haven't had them too much.  These are nothing to be concerned about, the rule of thumb is if I can sleep through them and they are gone in the morning they are not true labor contractions.  Sleep is a luxury these days, I find myself limiting the amount of fluid I have after dinner because if I have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom forget it!.... I'm up for hours after that.  Lately I wake up every 2 hrs throughout the night........ but I find I can nap when Lillian naps.  The only time I do sleep through the night is if I choose to go lay on the couch so it may be where I reside the remaining weeks to come!  I feel like the last couple months have gone by quick but we were also in the market for a house so we were pretty busy.  Hoping the next couple months go by as quickly, we can't wait to meet our new little one.