I have an ouchie...drop baby drop!

...a HUGE smile on my face. That's how I woke up this morning. I slept all night and life is great. Well, kind of. I did sleep all night but Dave is upset about my last blog starting with me waking up with tears so I started this blog just for him even though this blog is really for Vaughn when he gets older :). Gotta keep the daddy happy.

So what this post is really about - a few weeks ago at yoga, I felt a little snapping or popping under my right rib. Since then it's developed into a constant pain if I'm not fully stretched out. It almost feels like my rib is bruised. In addition to breathing being difficult, having sore ribs is the cherry on top.

I just got to say that the internet is a wonderful tool. I typed in "rib pain" and got a bunch of responses. (SIDE NOTE: Dave thought I said I was looking up rogaine in which he got a really sad look on his face. He thought I thought he needed to grow hair, but that's not the case at all. I love his hair!) I go to the doctor tomorrow so I'll ask him, but this is what I think I have:

Rib pain can range from mild to extremely sore and tender ribs and is usually felt on the right side, just below the breasts. Mainly occurring in the third trimester, it can be more painful when sitting. Rib pain is caused from the uterus pressing into the abdomen, squashing your ribs, as well as baby kicking or punching the area. The only real ways to help here are to make yourself as comfortable as possible by wearing lose fitting clothes and supporting yourself with cushions when lying down. The pain will likely subside when baby drops (into your pelvic cavity) in preparation for birth.

Here is a really effective exercise for temporary relief. Stand facing a wall. With your feet 40cms from the wall, cross your arms in front of your face. Then lean your crossed arms on the wall sliding them up the wall above your head and stretching yourself up as far as possible. Hold the position for as long as comfortable. This lifts the diaphragm and rib cage up off the uterus and really provides huge temporary relief, especially if the pain is caused by a breech baby’s hard little head wedged under your ribs.

I'm ready for the baby to drop. I hope this rib thing doesn't deter me from yoga. I did go yesterday and had some challenges. Today has been the worse pain though. We'll see how my week progresses.

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 :).