The story of Baby DACT: updates...almost to the finish line!

I know, the title is totally cliche, but I can almost visualize myself running toward the finish line, with a big belly bouncing up and down. As I make the last few steps, I pass through the finish line rope one huge stride at a time with a baby in my arms. My baby in my arms. His hair blowing in the wind...

...as Dave rushes from the stands.

Doc Visit - 35 1/2 weeks
We had a doctor's appointment on Thursday (as we will have them every Thursday until Vaughn's arrival) where we discussed my rib pain, epidurals, bowel movements, eating and anything else I had written in my little notebook.

My rib pain: Dr. Sawyer said it's being caused from my liver being trapped up under my rib so there's nothing I can do about it except pay attention to my posture.
Epidurals: He suggested to not wait too long to get one as it takes a while to get it and then for it to start working. The plan still though is to wait to see how fast I'm dilating to determine if I need one. I'm a huge baby, so I'll probably be begging for one...we'll see! We also talked about him being pooped on and he's totally cool with it. LOL...I'm not going to discuss that matter any further. Lastly, we talked about how it's taken out. He told me it's like taking an earring out which I can deal with, I think.
Bowel movements - see above
Eating - He suggested to go get a Wendy's milkshake before coming into the hospital. This way, if I do throw up, it'll taste almost as good coming up as it did going down. It's nice to have something in your stomach if possible and the milkshake should do the job.

Total weight gain to date: 24 pounds

Baby Gear
All the baby furniture is hear and then we have a diaper bag and fun bath stuff. We are missing the car seat and stroller though which we need to make sure we get. We went online on Saturday to buy it with the gift card Dave's mom gave us, and few other gift cards. It was not working. Finally, after I was getting super annoyed, Dave called Target. When a live person came on the phone, all they said was, "We apologize as we cannot speak to you right now. We're having a system upgrade. Call back later." Click. So we tried Sunday with no luck again. I went on Monday to find that it was no longer on sale so I wouldn't be able to use just the gift cards (you can only use up to four). Dave called yesterday and guess what! someone bought it. Hopefully, Vaughn doesn't come early because we definitely need that car seat. We do have a back up plan just in case :)

I went on today and bought the pack n' play as this is what Dave's mom decided she wanted to get since the stroller was already purchased. It comes next week. SO FUN! Now, we just have the high chair as a big item needed.

Organization
Kim came over on Saturday/Sunday to help wash baby clothes. I can't believe how many he has already. She was so sweet and cut all the tags off, sorted all the clothes and washed what she had time to do. On Monday night, I organized all the clothes so I could start hanging them up. Dave shut the lights off on me though because he said I had time to organize later. It was late so I guess I understand his reasoning for stopping my organizational escapade. I just want to make sure they're all ready before he gets here. I'm told this is called nesting. For some weird reason, I CAN'T STAND when people say I'm nesting. It's almost like I'm taking offense to it. I have no idea why. So let's just call it prepping for the bambino!

Belly Pictures
Dave and I got our pictures done on Sunday with the amazing Carrie Fay. We went to a neat little park that had random chickens, roosters and peacocks running around. I can't wait to take Vaughn there to chase after the livestock. It was super hot outside, but with the amazing husband I have holding a fan in front of my face every chance he got in between shots and feeding me with Powerade, I managed to not get sick. I did feel like I ran a marathon the next day though.

I think the best was when we kept wondering where Kim ran off to and then would see her eating fruit from the grapefruit trees or wondering after the roosters. I'm glad she got to come with us!

Flu Shot :(
In order to protect the baby (and me), I finally got my flu shot on Monday. The pharmacist wasn't going to give it to me as he said I had to wait for the clinics, but he saw my belly and got me in right away. It definitely hurt but I was a big girl with Dave by my side, of course. Today wasn't a good day though. I think I got side effects of feeling icky. I ended up coming home early from work to get a few hour nap. I still feel really achy, but hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight and go to work tomorrow.

WADDLE!
I've officially started waddling. Not terribly bad, but the back is arched back, the feet move slowly and surely. Not the most attractive gait, but I only got to do it for a few more weeks.