Finally!!!

This past Saturday, we ventured to Versailles to pick up Bruce & Brian's old bedroom suite for the boys bedroom. Brian came over to his parents house to help Bruce bring it downstairs and load it onto the truck. When we got home, Bruce unloaded it himself and I cleaned it up while it was sitting outside. Brian then came over later to help move it into the room as Susie needed to go into work for a little bit. It was a chore trying to figure out how to put in a full size bed, a crib, a changing table and two dressers. I think we finally found an arrangement that will work although my dinning room now serves as the toy room also.

I then spent all weekend taking stuff out of the old dresser and putting it in the new dresser, taking Nathan's old clothes out of the closet and into the dresser. I decided to leave his "good" clothes hang in the closet for two reasons.
1) So when Bruce has to pick out the clothes, he knows what is a dressy outfit and what is play clothes.
2) When the shirts are just tossed in the drawers, his good shirts won't get wrinkled.

I also spent all weekend washing all the twin bedding and the full size bedding that was upstairs so I could store it. I washed everything and then hung it on the line. I can testify that I did at least eight loads of bedding on top of everything else that I accomplished this weekend. I still don't feel like I got much cleaning done though....

37 week ultrasound

I had my final ultrasound yesterday. I had some surprising news and news that I expected; all of it good. The doctor checked out the heart, liver, bladder and other organs and everything looked normal. It is still a boy as the doctor pointed out the scrotum (the huge scrotum as Bruce made sure to brag).

Surprising news: The baby has a lot of hair. I figured that the baby would be bald since I have not had any heartburn issues with this pregnancy. The old-wives tale claims that the more heartburn you have, the more hair the baby has. We will just have to wait and see if the old adage is disproved.

Not surprising news: My uterus is measuring normal. The baby is measuring that my due date should be June 27, 2009. The weight has to be taken with a grain of salt, but he is supposedly measuring 8 lbs., 10 ounces. At this point in time, we are going to wait until he gets back from vacation on the 13th (if I haven't already delivered, which is doubtful) and then possibly induce sometime that week. My cervix is not dilated at all, and there are no signs to indicate labor would start in the near future.

I can hardly wait to see if this boy takes after Nathan, Darren or a combination of them both. Bruce has also surprised me by saying that a name I suggested several months ago, and he rejected, has been growing on him. We may actually have to wait until baby #3 is here to decide if he looks like a XXX or a ZZZ.

Other things....

I did get the boys room painted with Mom's assistance on my couple of vacation days. Let me just say that I really hate painting! I really wanted to get the new bedroom furniture in the room over the weekend, so that things are ready for baby number three, but that never happened. When Mom was over helping me paint, she mentioned a few times that I should wash the baseboards, so I got the hint and did that Saturday morning. I was on my knees wiping them down, and then I kind of got in the spirit of things. I asked Bruce if he would move all the furniture to one side of the room so that I could sweep and mop the hardwood floor, but he said no. So I just pushed everything that I could into the center of the room as much as possible and flipped the area rug up. I swept and then mopped the floor. After Bruce put everything back I went in and washed the windows. The room is probably the cleanest it has been in a long time!

Nathan went with my parents to a Dragon's game on Wednesday and spent the night at their house. He just loves to spend time on the farm. Working on the farm is a great vacation for him. Yesterday, Father's Day, we had plans to go to my parents for a Father's Day cookout/monthly Sunday family dinner. Before lunch even the boys are asking when can we go to the farm. I managed to hold them off until 3:00, but after that I was afraid of a mutiny! We get out to the farm, and Mom & Dad had to leave to go to my great-uncle's viewing, but the boys didn't care. They were just happy to be playing outside with little restrictions. I know that when we drop the boys off while I have this baby, that they will not want to come home. Nathan stayed on the farm for almost a week when I had Darren (because Darren ended up spending two nights in Children's) and he didn't want to come home.

Hot flashes!

The human bosy is a mysterious thing. On Saturday I watched Danielle and Alex so that Brian could get some work done and Susie could get some rest after her surgery. I know that they had to be worn out as they were outside almost all afternoon. I walked outside in the morning when I needed a break from cleaning the boys room, and when I was in the shade with the wind blowing, I thought it felt good. Therefore, that is how I got roped into watching the kids outside when they were playing. When Darren was taking his nap, we went to the park and I sat on a bench in the shade and read my book. I thought that it felt quite refreshing. After the kids left, I made dinner for my crew, cleaned up the dishes and decided to take a shower. After my shower and early that evening I walked outside to do something else. I walked outside and thought that it was flipping hot out! I even stood in the shade and waited for the breeze and still thought the same thing. Not sure why the heat never bothered me in the hottest part of the day, and then bothered me later that evening.

That night around midnight I woke up and I was sweating like I just ran a marathon. I was drenched in sweat, and I didn't even have any covers on! Since we don't have central air, we keep our window air conditioner in our bedroom set at 70F, and I was still roasting. I got up, changed pajamas, stuck my head in the freezer for a minute, grabbed an ice pack, stuck it on my neck and laid on the couch. About two hours later, I woke up and the ice pack was now just a gel pack, so I put it back in the fridge and crawled back in bed. I stayed cool the rest of the night. (although I still never needed any covers)

Candy?

In a bowl on the top of our refrigerator, we keep the left-over Easter candy. (There is no Halloween, Christmas or Valentine's candy left because I ended up taking it to work before Easter since I knew that we were going to get more. I still have a problem with throwing food away, even if it is candy.) For some reason, Darren was on a real kick this weekend and wanted candy. I told him that only boys who use the potty get candy. I asked him if he had to go potty and he said yes. I took off his diaper and set him on the little potty seat that sits on the regular toilet seat. Sure enough, as soon as I pointed his business down, he peed. Once he realizes that he peed, he jumps off as quick as possible so he can flush the toilet. As he is flushing he is asking for candy, and I struggle to get his diaper back on him so that he can get his candy. Over the course of the weekend, he went to the bathroom four times! Of course he got candy every time, and he even shared with Jenna when he did it at my parents house over the weekend. One time, he was straining/pushing so hard to make himself pee that I thought he was going to poop but he ended up just farting and dribbling a little bit. Technically he peed so he still got his candy.

New room

I am going to take a couple of vacation days to get things organized at home for the new baby, and to get the boys room ready. Nathan refuses to move upstairs, even if Darren is with him, and we have enough trouble trying to get him to sleep in his own bed that I decided that it isn't worth forcing the issue. Therefore, we are going to put all three boys in the same room. The room is big enough to accommodate all three boys, but we are going to run into trouble with all their toys. We had originally talked about moving their toys upstairs, but it gets so hot up there in the summer and they like to bring their tractors into the living room to "farm." We still don't know what we are going to do with everything, but I guess we will figure it out as we go.

I just wish that I had more energy in the evening. Between the cold that I currently have,being eight months pregnant, and working forty-plus hours a week I definitely hit a wall by the time I get home. We have been so busy on weekends, that I can't get anything accomplished other than basic cleaning and even that isn't done too well! Sorry Mom, I know you raised me better than that.

Sleep study

I mentioned a few entries ago and several times that Darren is having trouble sleeping at night. At first I thought it was simply his allergies, but after I noticed that he quits breathing for a few seconds, I thought that may be the problem. When I first mentioned it to the doctor, we had a miscommunication problem as he told me it was nothing to worry about. I questioned him and said that when he sleeps and stops breathing is nothing to worry about? We finally got on the same page and they have arranged for us to do a sleep study on Darren. We could do the sleep study at Children's or at Wilson Hospital, and since Wilson has a nurse who used to work at Children's in the sleep study department, we chose Wilson. That is scheduled for Wednesday, July 8th. I am making Bruce go with Darren as I will be nine months pregnant and spending a few nights in the hospital soon after that. Hopefully it is something simple (like tonsils), and that he doesn't have a bigger issue. He obviously isn't overweight and they say that is one of the biggest causes of the sleep apnea.

Hemorrhoids

No, not me! On Sunday Nathan said that he had to poop. As I was walking past the bathroom, he said that he was done and asked if I would wipe his behind. (We are trying to encourage him to do this himself, but he still prefers that one of us do it for him) I seen what I could only assume to be a hemorrhoid and I asked him if his butt hurt when he was pooping. He said that it did. I got on the Internet, did some research and found out that was more than likely a hemorrhoid. He has always had problems with his bowel movements, and I mentioned it at his five-year checkup a few weeks ago. They suggested that we try a few things, but I wasn't too concerned as he has never really complained before. On Monday I called the doctors office to ask what we should do. Needless to say, I have started Nathan on Miralax and I hope it does what it is supposed to. Someday Nathan will be mortally embarrassed to know that I talked about this.

I doubt that Darren will ever have hemorrhoid problems as he seems to poop all the time. He doesn't even turn red when he is pooping like some kids do. It is usually the smell that gives him away!

Time flies....

I am used to working a forty-plus hour week and coming home and running around to get dinner on the table, the kids a bath, cleaning up dinner dishes and preparing things to do it all over again the next day. By about 8:00 pm I have to stop cleaning or paying bills, or doing dishes or whatever I am be doing to sit down so that the kids will settle down for the night. They will play and/or follow me around until I do sit down. Since I am up by 5:30, and Nathan fights us every night on going to bed, that when he does go to bed about 9:30, I am more than ready to go to bed myself.

We are only on the second day of swim lessons, but it has been exhausting so far. I get home and rush around trying to get the boys something to eat, make sure everything is packed for swim lessons and get myself ready. By the time we get home it is after 8:00 and we need a snack/meal. Then of course they want to play when they need baths because they are so keyed up from swim lessons. At least I don't have many dishes since we aren't eating meals. I never got much done during the week, but it is even worse now. I basically keep the damage to a minimum during the week, and on weekends is when I get stuff accomplished. I can't even keep the damage to a minimum at this point. I know things are only going to get more hectic when I have three kids at home. At least I will be faster on my feet after the baby is born. (I hope)

Private swim lessons

We have friends who have a pool in their backyard, and their youngest two kids are my kids age. When I talked to Janelle (the friend who has the pool) she volunteered to have swim lessons at her house for my kids as she was planning on hiring someone anyway to teach her kids. My other friend Angie also mentioned that she would like to get in on the swim lessons if Janelle was serious. The following Monday morning I e-mailed her to ask if she was serious, or if it was the alcohol talking. She said she was serious, so I told her that I would be very interested in having Nathan take swim lessons at her house.

Last night was Nathan's first lesson, and he did really well. Even after the lessons were done, Nathan stayed in the pool and swam on his own. He even got out and went off the diving board even though the lifeguards had left for the evening. He was a little fish. He even wanted to learn how to dive. So he dived off the diving board a few times. One time he went up in the air and arched like he was going to dive, but he ended up doing a belly flop. It was quite comical. Angie's boy Wes did really well also. Nathan had some of the basics since he had swim lessons at the Y, but this was much better as he had one-on-one attention.

We asked Darren if he wanted to get in the water, but he said no. He likes the water, but he gets cold so easily, and he doesn't like to get his head wet that he wanted nothing to do with the pool. He did go and lay on their diving board. I was a little worried, but the part he laid on was the part over the concrete, so there wasn't a big chance of him falling in.

35 week checkup

I just got back from my 35 week checkup. There is nothing new to report as everything is progressing as normal. I still haven't gained any weight in the last six-eight weeks, but my measurements are exactly where they should be. Obviously as my belly gets bigger I am not as hungry so I am eating less, eating better and chasing the kids around outside. Completely normal. When they tried to find the baby's heartbeat he kept jumping around and she had lotion all over my belly by the time she was done chasing the baby boy around.

I wrote yesterday about the baby, and I thought of another difference. With the first two pregnancies I did not gain any weight until the last half, last trimester of my pregnancy. With this one, I gained it all at the beginning and now am at a standstill. Thank goodness I stopped gaining as I was getting worried that I was going to be one the ladies who gained 50 pounds with this pregnancy.

I am now at the point where I should be going to the doctor every week, but he asked if I wanted to come in next week or just wait until my 37 week ultrasound. I figure since I have not had any problems, this is my third child and I always go late that I would just see him again in two weeks. He was fine with my decision, so I go back on the 23rd of June for my ultrasound.

Baby boy

Tomorrow I have my 35 week check-up even though I am 35 weeks today. Sometimes I wonder if I really am having a boy because I am carrying this baby differently from the other two. Then I look at the ultrasound pictures and clearly see that it is a boy. If the old-wives tale is true, "the more heartburn you suffer from, the more hair your baby will have" my kid will be bald as a cue ball. I will occasionally think, "wow that hurts" and take a deep breath and my heartburn feeling goes away.

When we had Bruce's cousins graduation party a few weekends ago, everyone kept remarking how different Nathan & Darren were. They are complete opposites. I am kind of anxious to see if this one takes after Nathan, Darren or is a combination of them both.

I had lunch with my friend Gail last week and she asked if I had everything ready. Apparently she forgot who she is talking to. I am the Queen of procrastination. I told her that if it came down to it, all Bruce would need to do would be to get the infant seat from upstairs and maybe grab a sleeper or two. The only thing that I plan on getting new for this one is a bouncy seat, but I am not in a real big hurry for that. I don't plan on washing any of the sleepers before boy number 3 wears them. I do need to rearrange the dresser drawers, but that can be done up until the day I go in to be induced. I don't want to get the swing out until the day I need it as I know the boys will just want to play on it/in it and then they will break it.

It sounds like I don't care, but I have to be practical. With the first one you are so focused on him arriving that you have everything ready two months before your due date. With the second one you might start getting things ready a few weeks before hand. With number three you care, but that is that much more junk you have to clean around, pick up or trip over so you just postpone doing anything. You just get busier and busier with each child. I plan on sending the older two boys to daycare and to the farm a couple days a week so I can spend time with just number three.

It feels funny to call this baby number three, but Bruce and I have talked about a few names the day we found out we were having another boy but have not talked about it since. We can always agree early on for a girls name, but we always struggle with a boys name. We should probably get serious about picking out a few names as I would hate to not be able to leave the hospital on time because we can't agree on a name. (That is a true story as we had friends that were ready to go home but the hospital would not release them until they picked out a name)

OB vs. Midwife

My sister Susan is also pregnant and about 10 days behind my due date. I just read her latest blog entry and she was bragging about her midwife and almost knocking/putting down OB's. I easily become defensive and feel like I should defend Dr Buddhadev (Dr Dev for short). I am sure that there are great OB's and midwives and not so great ones, but I think that Dr Dev falls into the great category. He remembered at my six-week follow-up with Darren that he ended up being transferred to Children's almost immediately after being released. Granted he may have made a note in my chart, but I was impressed that he questioned it. He remembers that I have big babies, and just is great in general. I have friends who had babies with an OB in Troy, and they were betting that he didn't even remember their name while he was delivering their baby. They said that they just continued going to him because of his nurse as she was the one that they basically saw each time.

If you don't like a doctor's bedside manner, they don't listen to you, or you just aren't happy, you need to "fire" that doctor and look for another one. There is nothing wrong with looking into other options (for example: a midwife). It's your health and you have to do what makes you happy.

Which side???

Last Sunday, Nathan said he had a headache. He says that quite a bit, but I think he was serious this time because of how his eyes looked. He said this before he took a nap, and when he woke up from his nap, Patty & Tony were there and they offered to take Nathan for a ride in his Duster. Nathan loves to look at cool & classic cars, so he was thrilled with the opportunity to ride in a cool car. When he got back, he played for a while and then complained about his head hurting again. He refused to take any medicine for his headache, so he just kind of laid around and slept off and on for the remainder of the day.

At bedtime, I always hold Darren for a while so that he can calm down for the night. Well, on Sunday night Nathan also wanted me to hold him. Nathan was sitting on my lap first, and when I tried to get Darren on my lap he started crying, "that side." It took me a minute to figure it out, but I realized that Darren wanted to sit on my right side of my lap - the same side Nathan was currently sitting on. I tried to get Darren just to sit on my lap, but he kept crying for "that side." Eventually I moved Nathan to my left side, against his desire, and put Darren on my right side. Not sure what is going to happen when we have the third one?! I must have a better lap on my right side since neither of the boys wanted to sit on the left side!

Camp out

This past weekend some friends of ours hosted a camp out at their house. They have about five-acres of land and live on a seldom traveled road. I decided early on that I wasn't camping in a tent since I am have enough trouble sleeping in my own bed. The plan was that I take Darren home in the evenings and Bruce would camp in the tent with Nathan. On Friday night I went out with Darren and we were having a good time until it started raining. Once I was wet, I decided that I had enough and left for home once there was a break in the rain. I got home with Darren approximately 10:00. I put him to bed and decided that I was hungry so set about making myself a snack. Then about 10:30 I only had a few chapters remaining in my book so I decided to finish it. At 11:00 I hear the garage door open and in walk Nathan and Bruce. Apparently after I left Nathan had a change of heart and wanted to come home. Another couple from Loramie that was not planning on camping that night either, dropped them off.

We get back out to the "campgrounds" Saturday around noon. When we arrive, there is a huge blow-up slide. We decided that with at least twelve couples, it was well worth the money spent as there were kids on it from the time we got there until the we deflated it a 11:00 pm. Darren had a ball just being outside all day. At one point Darren was playing on the other side of the house (opposite side of where the tents and campfire was set up) and I was watching him when Nathan asked if I could help him ride a bike. This bike had no training wheels and he was bound and determined to learn how to ride without them. I spent five minutes with him, and he had it figured out. He still has a problem starting out, but he gets that honestly as I have troubles once in a while. Around 11:00 pm I decided that I was ready to head home for the night and I asked Nathan if he wanted to stay or go home with me. He said that he wanted to stay, but Bruce was confident that he would change his mind in the middle of the night so I went home with two boys and left my husband so he could sleep in the tent.