the plant-eaters are the first to go :(

I woke up this morning trying to get out of my very vivid dream!

When: The end of time. The world was coming to an end

Where: a bowling alley that turned into a University court yard becuase the bowlign alley was getting too crowded.

Who: Former President George W. Bush leading everyone in the world including me.

What: We were all becoming dinosaurs as the world was ending. I was becoming a brontosaurus. All the carnivours were just staring at us sad plant-eaters. We were the first to go according to Bush's orders. I couldn't run very fast because I was so big. As I moved through the grass, I started to grow a neck and big dino feet.

About pregnancy dreaming from ivilage.com..."hormones of pregnancy are accentuating your dream life. Physical changes in your body may contribute to vivid dreaming. What is more true, is that your pregnancy and upcoming motherhood represents a huge life transition, and dreaming is nature's way of expressing anxieties, and working through emotional changes." Hmmm, what kind of anxiety does becoming a dinosaur (and one that doesn't eat meat) represent?

35 weeks!

My official entrance into the WORLD of discomfort

Tears dripping down my face...this is how I woke up this morning after a night of lots of stomach aches and stretching pains every time the pillow escaped from under my belly. My super bad headache didn't help either. For the most part, I do feel great. However, sleeping is just going to be more and more challenging. It's just so hard to get comfortable sleeping on my side when the belly (baby) is just so heavy. When I'm exercising or doing yoga, I feel fine. Maybe I should just never stop :).

Hopefully I'll find a comfortable position tonight so I can get some sleep. The countdown has begun - 35 days to go. I just can't wait to meet the baby. (For some reason, I just can't say "my son" yet...even typing that feels weird. I better get over that - FAST!)

Hubby Love:
When I was crying this morning, Dave ran downstairs (still half asleep) to get me an ice pack for my head. When he came upstairs, I told him that it just feels like all of my insides are being squished. Dave then stood at the end of the bed and said, "Don't worry, cutie. Pretty soon, little Vaughn will be here and he'll say, 'hi mom!' and you'll be like, you squeezed my insides, do push ups. And he will say, 'whatever you say, mommy' and do push ups to make up for the pain you're going through." Oh, how I just love my husband!

Graduation...and 34 weeks doc appointment

We did it!

Dave and I completed our child birth class with flying colors. Well, there were no tests, but we did learn a lot and felt it was totally worth it. In the third class, we learned about all of the pain medications and all the different options I have. In the last class, we discussed newborn care. We watched a video with lots of cute 1-28 day old babies. There were lots of smiling parents in our class while watching the video - Dave and me included.

Yesterday, we had our 34.5 week doctor appointment and ultrasound. Baby Vaughn is super healthy. His heartbeat was 143 beats per minute. It was neat to see him opening and closing his mouth with little amniotic fluid bubbles floating around his head. It was a pretty quick ultrasound as I started to feel pretty sick from laying on my back. Then, Dr. Sawyer took a culture to test for GBS. He also gave me a prescription to get a flu shot. I never want shots, but this is one I'm concerned about since flu season is supposed to be bad this year especially with H1N1. That shot hasnt' been released yet but at least I can get the normal flu shot as this will be the only way to protect Vaughn until he's six months old.

Our next doctor appointment is next week. We'll be seeing Dr. Sawyer every week until we get to meet our baby boy. We have also started researching pediatricians. We're going to take a tour/interview at Great Destinations Pediatrics (http://www.gdpeds.com/home/). I know a few people who go there and this is also where Dr. Sawyer referred us. If we don't like them, we have two others to check out. So much to do to prepare for a baby!

Definitely a Ninja!

Vaughn's movements are getting stronger and stronger each day. His new thing is jabbing something (I think it's his foot) into my right side to where it sticks out a few inches. His "kicks" are super powerful. This morning in yoga, it was super weird as I was getting ready to go into a position and couldn't because there was a foot (or SOMETHING) sticking out of my side. Another time today, I was standing up and almost fell over because of the same occurance happening in my side. Super crazy to me!


I told Dave we need to keep the video camera out so I can get some of this on DVD :).

Updates from today! I would just like to point out - look at Rocco's face - hilarious!Maternity pants + my non-existant butt (well, it is bigger than pre-pregnancy) = saggy butt syndrome!

No wonder my back is hurting - look at the arch in my posture. I need to work on that!

Childbirth Class #2 and 32 weeks

We had our 2nd Childbirth class on Wednesday where we learned about the stages of birth and relaxation. Lenore (our fabulous teacher) suggests that we try to have early stages of labor at home as long as possible where it's more comfortable. She had us do a bunch of different relaxation techniques including visualization and deep breathing. It was fun doing the different excercises. Then, we watched a long video about the use of relaxation during labor. As I felt in the first class, I walked away from the class feeling more at ease and wanting more and more to own my own labor by trying to be as relaxed as possible. I do hope that doing yoga 3-4 times a week helps me. I can already tell my breathing patterns have changed. I think it's neat I'm getting less and less nervous - I totally thought it would be the opposite.

Here are some update pictures at 32 weeks. The belly is getting BIG!

Hubby Love:
Me: My belly’s getting big
Dave: I don’t look at it that way. I look at it as our baby is getting big!

Me: "I’m just worried I’m not going to get everything right."
Dave: "Well, this baby isn’t the only one we plan on having. We’ll get it right by the second one."

I will never forget the moment that Dave was trying to figure out how Vaughn can stand being upside down for 9 months. He flipped himself upside down on the bed (very un-gracefully) for about 1 minute before his face got all red and he fell over. He never ceases to make me laugh!

At childbirth class, towards the end of class, we did the "hee-hee-hoo" breathing. There are 3 different ways to do it so the birthing partner puts up the number of fingers for the number of breaths they want you to do. All the couples were doing it seriously while Dave was acting like a baseball catcher and telling me, "curve ball, sinker, etc." I think it's going to be great to have him with me as long as I don't get frustrated that he's being funny and instead, actually laugh and enjoy him :).

Nursery Updates!

The nursery is coming along. Dave still needs to install the ceiling fan (the first one he bought didn't work so he just got another to replace it). Other than that, all the furniture is about done. Dave has plans to build a Murphy bed, but it's really not necessary before Vaughn arrives. But on the other hand, if it doesn't get done before his arrival, it will be much harder to do afterwards - so I'm told.

We still haven't made a final decision as to where everything will go. We have it set up how we think it'll be, but it's also leaving a lot of space for the Murphy bed...

Here are the updated pictures after Dave built all the fun furniture. Thanks to our family for the crib and changing table!

As you enter the room:

The crib:

The curtains aren't on a rod yet, I just tucked them in the blinds to see what it looks like and I like the color contrast a lot. They need ironed too! We only bought one pair to see if they would work so we still need to buy the other pair. As you exit the room. Here's the changing table. All of his new clothes are in the bottom waiting to get washed. Dave bought baby hangars so as soon as I get all the clothes washed, they'll get hung up!

Changing table and clothes:

The Sea Mobile! We registered (and got) the bedding too, but it was before we did the room color. It doesn't match except that there are sea animals on it so we might just get yellow bedding to match the curtains. Still undecided!

All we have left is the decor. I'm going to do some paintings I think. And then I'm not so great at decorating but maybe I'll go to TJ Maxx and see if I can find any fun stuff to fit the theme. Most likely, the walls will remain pretty blank but blue :).