Monday, January 21, 2013

Pregnancy #2: 41 weeks

Today we hit 41 weeks and had an appointment with my (favorite) midwife to again check on baby's position and discuss our (limited) options.

The ultrasound confirmed what I already knew: baby is still breech.  Complete breech with both her bottom and her feet tucked down into my pelvis.  Like this:

{via}
And I wonder why my pelvis hurts so badly.  Well, instead of the head that used to be there, there's now a bottom AND feet that are kicking and pushing outward.  Good stuff. 

After discussing the pros and cons extensively on our own, as well as with my midwife at our appointment today, we have decided to move forward with a scheduled C-section on Wednesday morning.  All things considered, everyone feels like this is the best choice at this point based on the circumstances we've been handed. 

I'm incredibly disappointed by the way things are playing out, but I do recognize that we've done everything we can and it's out of our control now.  At this point I'm just looking forward to meeting a healthy baby on Wednesday, getting us both through the surgery, starting my recovery process, and tackling this whole breastfeeding thing.  Hopefully breastfeeding will at least go easier for us, we could really use a break (and some cooperation from my body) right now!  Hopefully it will just be an easier recovery all around this time.

Friday, January 18, 2013

Pregnancy #2: 40 weeks, 4 days

It's finally happened.  I've hit that magical tipping point of pregnancy where this baby making its exit by any means necessary seems far more appealing than staying pregnant just one more day.  It happened quickly for me because as of last week I was perfectly content, still very much enjoying my pregnancy, and soaking in the last few days I had left until our world was turned upside down by an outside baby.

Welp, that's over with.  I'm ready for the outside baby.  I'm done being pregnant.  I'm tired of being in constant pain.  I'm ready to be able to roll over in bed without having to mentally prepare myself for the task, involving multiple movements to actually accomplish the roll, and ending up with tears in my eyes from the pain associated.  I want to be able to easily get up from the couch and walk around normally and without pain.  I'm tired of worrying about whether breastfeeding is going to be possible this time, I just want to get there and start working on it.  I'm absolutely exhausted by worrying about how and when this baby will arrive and whether she will cooperate with her positioning.  I just want it to happen and be done with it.  I know that I'm going to have a period of recovery, one that will probably longer than originally anticipated, but at least I'll be working towards feeling better rather than just feeling worse and worse.  I'm just so over the whole thing at this point and it's definitely no longer enjoyable.

I feel a little cheated in that I spent this entire pregnancy feeling so hopeful and sure and positive and now in a matter of days I've done a total about face and headed to Negative Town, but I guess it is what it is.  Every day is just so emotionally and physically exhausting right now.  Good thing I know we're nearly at the end one way or another.

Don't worry, no plans to prematurely evict this little one before her time, but I'm sure hoping she decides to make her appearance soon.  We're still doing what we can to encourage her to flip back to a head down position, but every day that passes I'm losing hope that it will actually happen.  All we can do at this point is wait (and worry.  I'm trying not to, but it's really hard given the circumstances).  If we make it to Monday (41 weeks) we'll see what my midwife has to say. 

In other news, in the stand-off of which would be finished first, the blanket or the baby, the blanket won:



Blankets.  Harder to photograph than one would think!  This blanket was crocheted using the Cuddle & Coo pattern from Red Heart.

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Pregnancy #2: 40 weeks, 2 days

Where to start?

Well, I guess I'll just start with the biggest thing.  The thing that's at the forefront of my mind that I haven't been able to stop thinking about since I found out.

Yesterday, at my 40 week midwife appointment we found out that baby has flipped to a breech presentation.

*Breathe in, breathe out*

I hate even typing that out.

For me, this means if she remains in that position I will not have the option of attempting a vaginal delivery.  After all of our careful consideration and considerable preparations to help achieve a successful VBAC this is quite a difficult pill to swallow.

Look, I realize that bottom line the most important thing is that we come out of this with a healthy mom and a healthy baby.  I get that, but even though that's the most important consideration here, that doesn't mean that there aren't other factors as well.  I want a better, safer, more natural experience for both myself and my baby this time.  I want a better chance at breastfeeding.  I want the shortest hospital stay possible so that we can get back to where I'm comfortable and start adjusting to life as a family of four.  I want an easier recovery where my uterus doesn't have to be cut open for a second time and I don't have to avoid picking up my toddler for weeks and weeks for fear that I'll rip open the incision and cause further complications.  I want to be able to bond with my baby (and return home to my toddler) without being in a medication induced haze trying to control the pain from a recent surgery.

Thankfully, Jack and I came out of our C-section experience more or less no worse for the wear.  I had a very long recovery, but that likely had to do with all the laboring I did leading up to the C-section.  I wasn't able to successfully breastfeed, and that was definitely the biggest thing that I felt we were robbed of, but thankfully Jack thrived on formula.  But I'm all too aware of the risks and possible complications that can be experienced and I consider myself lucky that everything went so smoothly last time.  It makes me nervous to take on those risks again, but I don't have a lot of options and it's really out of my control and I hate that.

Let's rewind a little.

You would think that a full-term baby flipping from vertex to breech presentation would be totally obvious.  First, it's unlikely to happen in the first place considering how little room is left for baby to manuever, and second, it's a fully grown baby!  How did I not feel that?

Looking back in hindsight a couple of things stand out.

To begin with, it's difficult for me to tell what position she's in anymore just because everything is so squished in there.  There aren't really any distinctive movements like there used to be, it's more big rolling sensations or little twitches more than anything.

There was a time last week (and I can't remember which day exactly) where I remember remarking to Mark that the baby was having a party in my tummy.  She was SUPER active, far more so than is usual, and this continued from the evening and even after we were in bed for the night.  Maybe that's when she flipped?

The only other change I've had is a drastic increase in pelvic pain.  I had been doing so well, and feeling so (relatively, anyway) good and then in the wee hours of Sunday morning (39 weeks, 6 days) I woke up to the feeling of a small amount of fluid leaking.  For a minute I thought that maybe my water had broken with a trickle.  So I got up and went to the bathroom and didn't experience any additional leaking so I decided it was probably (atypically for me) just an excess of watery discharge, strange as it was.  By the time I got back to my bed I was in a TON of pain.  My pubic bone (where I've had pain in the past) was quite angry and I had trouble just getting back into bed.  It was so sudden.  I was sure that what had happened was baby had quickly dropped down and her head was putting pressure on things causing the pain.   Maybe that's when baby changed positions?

I didn't have any additional leakage after that, but the pain continued.  The next morning I was still in a ton of pain, I was having trouble just getting around, and to top it off I couldn't even lay down without being in a ton of pain.  Sunday night was brutal as I couldn't get in a position where I wasn't in excruciating pain so I spent most of the night essentially sitting straight up in bed, dozing, as well has experiencing contractions every 30 minutes or so.  Around 4am I finally was able to lay down either because things had gotten slightly better or because I was so exhausted I wasn't even registering the pain, I'm not sure.

Monday was more of the same, but thankfully we did figure out a way for me to lay comfortably even though I needed Mark's help every time to get properly situated and it hurt like the devil to move at all after I was finally situated, but I still had to get up periodically to go to the bathroom and flip over to my other side.  Ugh, what a nightmare.

Monday night I took a shower and by the time I got out of the shower things had suddenly improved slightly.  I was still in a lot of pain, but things had downgraded from excruciating to move to just super painful.  I counted it as a win.

Now, while all of this was going on it sent me to a really negative place mentally.  I had been SO positive about how good I was feeling and I was feeling great about heading into my birthing time.  I was so sure that everything was going to go great and honestly the only thing I was worried about was how breastfeeding was going to go this time.  We were just waiting for things to start.  Once I was in so much pain it just really messed with my head.  I've said all along that I felt like I wasn't going to have any problem as long as I could keep the pelvic pain under control (which I had!) so once it set in so severely I already felt robbed of a normal labor and delivery experience.  My mind immediately went to worrying that things were going to be the same as last time.  It was really hard and I was honestly really anxious at the same time.

So I went to my scheduled appointment on Tuesday morning, anxious about discussing this new development with my midwife.  I already knew there was nothing they could do and nothing they could really tell me about what I could expect from labor and delivery, but I was interested to see what they had to say anyway.

I laid back on the table and we listened to baby's heartbeat, which sounded great.  The midwife measured my tummy and as usual she felt baby for positioning.  I did notice that she spent more time that usual doing that and was squeezing things a little more than usual, but I thought maybe it was getting harder to tell how baby was sitting just because everything is so squished in there at this point.  She usually tells me how baby is positioned, but she didn't say anything.  I didn't think anything of it because the exam wasn't over at that point like it usually is.   

Then we did (my first) cervical exam and she said I was 3cm dilated and 50% effaced, but that baby was still sitting up pretty high.  I was super surprised by this information considering I was sure baby had dropped and that's what was causing the pain.  She stood up and said, "let me feel baby again...".  She felt my tummy again and just looked at me and said, we need to get a quick peek in there.  I want to send you over for an ultrasound to check baby's positioning.  At this point, things still hadn't registered and I just sputtered, "huh?  Is everything okay with the baby?".  And she said, baby seems fine, but she thought there was a chance that baby had flipped to breech presentation.  She assured me that it's very uncommon for babies to flip this late, but that she couldn't confirm that baby was still head down so we needed to check.

The office ultrasound tech came to get me and we walked down to the lab.  She squeezed gel on my belly and put the wand to my lower tummy.  I was looking at the screen trying to figure out what the heck I was looking at (again, because everything is so cramped in there right now, it's hard to tell!) and she immediately said, "baby's breech".

I was just so shocked to hear this it didn't even sink in.  I had no idea what to say.  The ultrasound tech wiped off my belly and said she was going to get the midwife to come back and talk to me.  At that point... I wasn't even thinking anything.  I was just in complete shock and my mind was totally blank.

The midwife came into the lab and said, "I'm so sorry, I just want to cry for you right now, I know how much you wanted a VBAC.  We have to do a C-section".  Again, I just... I don't even think things were fully registering at this point.  So I said, "when?  When would we do that?".  And she started explaining that they would recommend I schedule a C-section as soon as possible, as in today or the next day.  She explained that considering I could go into labor at any time at this point, and as the days pass the likelihood increases, that a scheduled C-section would be best rather than waiting for labor to begin and arriving at the hospital in active labor with a breech baby needing a C-section.

I think we talked more about the risks/benefits of doing a C-section as soon as possible vs. waiting, but I honestly can't remember.  I told her I definitely wasn't ready to make a decision today so she walked me to the front desk and got me scheduled for an appointment next Monday when I'll be right at 41 weeks.  They'll want to check baby's positioning again at that point if I don't go into labor before then.  She told me to think about it, talk things over with my husband, and give them a call back to let them know what I was thinking and/or if I wanted to get the C-section scheduled and if we decided to wait they would see me on Monday if I still had an inside baby.

I barely made it to my car before bursting into tears.  I called Mark to tell him the news.

I feel like this is such a blow considering everything we have done to try to stack the deck in our favor.  Not to mention all along I've been specifically doing things to help with baby's positioning such as weekly adjustments with my chiropractor and special exercises.  I honestly wasn't even concerned about the possibility of baby being breech because it's a super low percentage of babies who are breech to begin with AND baby was already head down!  I was far more concerned with baby being posterior like Jack was.  I just can't believe that this is happening and that it's happening SO late in the game!

In addition to the fact that I could go into labor at any minute and that baby is breech, now I'm worried about WHY baby is breech.  It's so unlikely that baby would flip at this point, maybe she's trying to tell us something.  Sometimes babies are breech for a reason, like they're tangled up in their umbilical cord or there's a malformation of the pelvis or something.  Maybe this is baby's way of telling us it's not a good idea to attempt a vaginal delivery?  It's always a possibility.  

For now, we wait.  We've decided to do what we can (additional chiropractor visits with my Webster's trained doctor as well as more exercises, for what it's worth, I later called my provider back to see if a version is an option at this point and for me it is not) for this week and assuming labor doesn't start on its own I'll go to my 41 week visit where they'll check positioning again and then we'll reevaluate things at that time.  For now, I feel best letting baby decide what's happening.  I'll give her as much time as I can to allow her to turn (and do what I can to make that possible), but if I go into labor and she's still breech it's out of my hands at that point. 


Saturday, January 12, 2013

Pregnancy #2: 39 weeks, 5 days

We're getting closer!  Like... crazy close.  It all feels very surreal, but we could be welcoming this baby into the world any day now.  At most, it won't be longer than another couple weeks.  Just crazy!

I'm feeling better about baby's arrival since we've had time to prep.  The tiny clothes are washed and folded and put away.  The covers for all the baby items have been washed.  Most of the projects I wanted to get done before baby's arrival have been completed.

Recently, I made 2 muslin swaddling blankets:


They're actually made out of cotton gauze, but they're inspired by the popular aden + anais muslin swaddling blankets so I'll call them muslin.  Super simple project.  They're just two 1 1/4 yard squares of white cotton gauze that I hemmed on all 4 sides and then dyed with Rose RIT dye.  Easy peasy and after sale and coupon each blanket cost $4.50 (and that's including the dye).  Compare that with the name brand blankets which start around $35 for a 4-pack.

And my other recent project is a set of a dozen cloth wipes:



They're flannel on one side and terry cloth on the other.  I actually have had the fabric for this project since Jack was a baby, but ended up not actually making the wipes because we ended with plenty of wipes for him from the baby washcloths that we use.  But now, with two babies in diapers, I'm going to need more so this is a good start!  I think I used 1/4 yard of each fabric and got a dozen generous sized wipes.  I just turned and topstiched the fabric and they're nice and plush too!

I'm currently working on my last baby project, which is a crocheted baby blanket.  It's about halfway done right now so we've been discussing whether I will finish the blanket first or baby will make her arrival first.  It could definitely go either way, we'll see!

We still need to pack hospital bags.  Surely I'm not the only pregnant woman to wait til the last minute to do this?  I can't remember when I packed my bags last time either.  I'm sure it wasn't very early.  Mark says he feels like we packed them right before leaving for the hospital.  Hmm... maybe we'll work on this today.  Especially considering we have 3 people to pack for this time, not 2!

I had my 39 week midwife appointment on Tuesday.  Everything looks great.  Baby seems to be measuring right on track still (based on fundal height and my midwife feeling baby), her heart rate is perfect, my blood pressure is good, weight is good, I haven't had any swelling, I'm still relatively comfortable, and I haven't even had any heartburn to speak of (whereas last time, I didn't really have any throughout my pregnancy, but the last few weeks it was terrible and constant!  So glad I seem to have avoided that this time!).

Oh, also, my belly button has decided to kind of halfway pop out.  This happened maybe a week or so ago.  With Jack my belly button never popped, just got really, really flat.  This time it seemed like the same thing was going to happen, but lo and behold it seems to be popping out a little bit.  Jack likes to poke it and has decided that it looks like a cherry (???).   

I haven't had a cervical check yet.  My practice doesn't begin routine cervical checks until 40 weeks unless I really want it and I was planning to decline checks this time even if they wanted to do them.  They don't mean anything as far as when you will go into labor (as evidenced by the fact that I held off on checks until 38 weeks last pregnancy and when I was checked at 38, 39, and 40 weeks I was 2cm dilated and 80% effaced every time leading up to labor at 41 weeks.) and I trust that my body is doing exactly what it needs to be doing in preparation for this baby.  My midwife did mention that if I still have an inside baby at my 40 week appointment (which I will actually be 40 weeks, 1 day for the appointment) they will want to do a cervical check just to see what's going on (I'm fine with that).

She also mentioned that I might consider allowing them to do a membrane sweep to jump start things.  I'm not planning to allow them to do this.  I tried that last time at my 40 week appointment and it was mighty uncomfortable for me then just left me feeling uncomfortable and crampy for the next day, maybe two, while still sporting a big pregnant belly for another week.  It didn't send me into labor and I'm of the opinion that it's not going to work unless your body is ready for labor anyway.  Might as well wait for it to start on its own rather than being uncomfortable leading up to it!  We'll see what happens between now and then, but barring some serious changes in my comfort level I think we'll just skip it until at least 41 weeks and then reevaluate.

Obviously we're getting closer though.  Wednesday evening I started feeling some very mild menstrual-like cramping and then I had a few (like... 3) mild contractions.  I guess they would still be considered Braxton Hicks contractions, but they're definitely ramping up.  I've felt Braxton Hicks contractions since my 2nd trimester, but it was only tightening that I felt.  Now, they are stronger, and I'm feeling some downward pressure with them as well.  I'm not really sure if the contractions are just stronger so they're causing that feeling, or baby is lower so I'm feeling the pressure when the contractions happen as they have been, or if the contractions are different and are actually pushing baby downward.  Or, maybe some combination of all of the above!

I've had these stronger contractions every day since Wednesday and with more frequency.  Last night I had one every 40 minutes or so from early evening until I went to bed.  They seem to come at the end of the day, which is also playing into my feeling that my labor will start in the evening again.  Progress!

I find these contractions SO very interesting.  I never noticed any Braxton Hicks with Jack, and certainly nothing like this with the contraction and pressure together.  I know not everyone feels them, especially first time moms, so this has been a new experience for me.  The very first contraction I had with Jack was the start of my labor and things progressed pretty quickly to active labor from there.  And it was super painful and I didn't even notice tightening, just super amounts of pain in my pelvis which had been bothering me.  That's how my whole labor was.  So this time, it's nice to actually experience the feeling of a normal contraction that's not painful.  It's reassuring to me as well that things will be different this time and build more gradually.  Even though I'm a second time mom, I feel like I had never experienced a normal contraction before because of the complications with my pelvic pain last time.  It's a very neat feeling at this point to feel my body working the way it should!
   
Honestly, at this point I'm just trying to enjoy this last bit of my pregnancy, and the last bit of time we have as a family of three.  Maybe Mark is just taking too good of care of me!


Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Baby Prep: Freezer Cooking



Recently, I've been cooking with an eye towards what I can add to the freezer to save for quick meals once Baby Dos comes along.  I said before that I wasn't really nesting, but maybe I nest by cooking?  Because suddenly I feel this immense pressure to make sure that we have enough food to eat for after baby's arrival!

I've always been a huge fan of stashing things in the freezer for later and through some trial and error (and common sense) I've come up with a working knowledge of what freezes and reheats well and I'm definitely going to utilize freezer meals to keep us fed while we're trying to adjust to life with a new family member!

We are incredibly lucky to have a hand-me-down stand-up freezer from my mother-in-law and we get SO much use out of it.  Even when I'm not in baby prep mode I often split casseroles and bake half right away and freeze the other half for a later meal so that we're not eating leftovers all week long.  It works really well for us because typically an 8x8 casserole will give us enough food for dinner and leftovers for lunch the next day.  I do the same thing when I make a big pot of soup and we have tons of leftovers.  I just freeze some in individual portions.  Makes for a great quick lunch later on.  I like leftovers and that's pretty much where all of our lunches come from, but no one likes to eat the same thing all week long!  This way, not only do we get multiple meals, but it takes no additional work, and we don't waste any food.  Win-win-win!

Between my bake half now, freeze half for later method and some specifically-for-the-freezer cooking sessions we have a good head start on post-baby meals.  Right now, we have:


8x8 Pans

1- Macaroni and Cheese
1- Cheese Stuffed Shells
1- Turkey Tetrazzini
2 - Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole


Other

3 - Turkey Pot Pies
1 - Homemade Frozen Pizza
3 - Individual-size Homemade Frozen Pizzas (for quick lunches or dinners for Jack)
12 - Breakfast Sandwiches (Sausage, Egg, and Cheese on Whole-Wheat English Muffins)
1 - Loaf of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread
18 - Individually portioned soups (Butternut Squash, Sausage and Lentil, Chipotle Sweet Potato Corn Chowder, Corn Chowder)
Creamy Chicken Taquitos
Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Dough Balls

I also have a small portion of chili that I can easily make into Chili Mac or serve over baked potatoes or something, 2 cups of cooked chicken leftover from making the Chicken Broccoli Rice casseroles that should come in handy, and 2 portions of "Refried" Beans that can become an easy side or bean burritos!

Tonight I'll be adding a pan of Pasta with Six Cheeses and later this week I'm hoping to add 2-8x8 pans of Chicken Enchiladas.

Between meals I have stocked in the freezer, Crock Pot meals, and quick-fix meals we should manage to remain fed during the craziness that will surely be the first few weeks adjusting to life as a family of four!

Monday, January 7, 2013

Menu Plan Monday - Week of January 6th


Trying to keep things simple around here while we wait for Baby Dos's arrival.  I'm 39 weeks today so simple meals are the theme this week!


Sunday:  Taco Night

Monday:  Beef and Broccoli (Crock Pot) with Brown Rice

Tuesday:  Pasta with Six Cheeses with Bread

Wednesday:  Creamy White Chili (Crock Pot)

Thursday:  Leftovers

Friday:  Shredded Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches (Crock Pot) with Ranch Potato Wedges

Saturday:  Homemade Pizza


I'm linked at Menu Plan Monday hosted by OrgJunkie.com

Thursday, January 3, 2013

Tried & True Recipe: Ranch or Zesty Potato Wedges


Ranch Potato Wedges are an easy side dish and a family favorite.  They go great alongside just about anything, but I most often serve them with Crock-Pot Shredded Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches, Grilled Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches, or Buffalo Ranch Chicken Wraps.  I think I associate them with buffalo flavored dishes because Buffalo Wild Wings has Ranch Potato Wedges that are delicious and I'm sure quite unhealthy.  So these are my take on a healthier at-home version and they're so easy!


Ranch Potato Wedges

Potatoes*, washed and cut into wedges (I usually get 6-8 wedges per potato)
Extra-virgin Olive Oil, to coat
Ranch Seasoning (store bought or homemade), to taste (~1-2 Tablespoons)


Pre-heat oven to 400-degrees.

In a large bowl toss potato wedges with enough EVOO to coat along with the ranch seasoning.  Dump wedges onto a large, non-stick baking sheet and arrange in a single layer.

Bake for 20 minutes.  Stir and arrange in a single layer again.  Bake an additional 20 minutes or until the edges start to turn golden brown.

Serve with ketchup or ranch dressing to dip.

Enjoy!


*For these wedges I like to use small russet potatoes, like the kind that come in the Value brand bag at Kroger.  2 small potatoes per person seems to work out well.  If you're using a larger potato you might want to plan for 1 potato per person.


Updated 5/19/13: For a Zesty Oven Fries version use the same technique as above but instead of the ranch season with:

1 tsp Onion Powder
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Paprika
1/2 tsp Chili Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
(1/4 tsp Cayenne Pepper, optional, if you like a little heat)

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Nesting? Not quite. {38 weeks, 1 day!}

Supposedly, when a pregnant woman feels that labor is imminent, there's a nesting instinct that kicks in and said hugely pregnant woman will suddenly get the urge (along with the necessary energy) to clean the house top to bottom in preparation for their little one's arrival.  I know some people who swear it really happens, but in my experience it's nothing more than another old wives' tale.  Last time I supposedly had a little burst of energy and motivation during my 39th week, but it really wasn't much to brag about. 

When we saw friends and family for the holidays I was repeatedly asked if we were ready for this little one to arrive and I kept saying that no, we weren't, and I was serious about that.  I feel like maybe Mark is more ready for this little one's arrival than I am, but I was quite serious about not being ready for several reasons including the fact that we had done very little in the way of preparations.  However, once Christmas actually passed us by it was really apparent that it was time to get moving on preparing for this baby's arrival.

I'm a total procrastinator.  I always work better when I'm up against a deadline so maybe this is just the way I nest.  It's not a natural thing that comes along with a burst of energy, but rather I get slapped in the face with just how soon baby is arriving (and how much I have put off) and it forces me to start getting things done.  I'd really rather that whole natural nesting instinct kick in because even though we're now getting things checked off my mental list (yeah, I don't write stuff down either...) I don't actually want to be doing these things.  I'm tired.  And very pregnant.  And my belly feels heavier every day (although... I'm still feeling relatively good so I'm hesitant to complain too much!).  And all I actually want to do is lay in bed with my body pillow and a book because that's the only place I feel comfortable anymore.  Although, I'm not to the point of discomfort that I'd rather have the baby out quite yet so... that's saying something!  We still have more to do!

Since Christmas we have:

- purged outgrown toys to make room for the new stuff and put new stuff away (although, I still feel like my family room is a disaster area.  I'm not really sure how that's possible since we found space for so many things.  We still have stuff everywhere and I'm not really sure how I'm going to rectify this situation...)

- went through the baby clothes that we had in storage to pull out what we wanted for newborn - 6 months.  Put the other things back in storage and washed all the clothes we're keeping out.  Yesterday I finally folded the clothes and put them away.

- made a dozen breakfast sandwiches, a homemade frozen pizza, and 2-8x8 Chicken Broccoli Rice Casseroles (which also involved making a whole chicken and using the scraps for homemade stock) for the freezer.  I was also supposed to have a batch of Cheddar-Stuffed BBQ Mini-Meatloaves, but I think the boys are actually going to polish those off before they make it to the freezer.  Oh well, I tried!  I've been slowly stocking our freezer with meals for after the baby arrives.  I need to organize in there so maybe I'll get a post up sharing what we have.

- transitioned Jack to a toddler bed!  We kept putting this off.  We're only on day 3 (so he's slept in his bed 3 overnights and 2 naps), but it has gone really well so far.  (Thank goodness!)

- cleaned our room including the windows, washing curtains, dusting, and vacuuming.

- mixed up a batch of homemade detergent and started prepping the newborn diapers (they have to be washed and dried multiple times before first use so they're absorbent enough).


And of course this is in addition to the usual household stuff.  Although, Mark has been super helpful with the day to day stuff as well so that's nice.  I still have plenty of laundry to keep up with and dinners to cook.  I keep saying that at this point I feel up to about one task a day.  That really needs to be dinner because by the time I get other tasks done and dinnertime rolls around I'm SO not feeling cooking, but with pinching our pennies take-out really isn't an option right now so I've been at least trying to keep things pretty simple because even though I usually enjoy cooking it's quite the chore right now.  I get tired so easily just being on my feet and the Braxton Hick contractions start up and it's just not fun anymore!

On tap for today is finishing up diaper prep, washing all of the covers on things like the baby's carseat, swing, bouncy seat, etc., and putting away indoor Christmas decorations.  After that I really need to take stock of what's in our freezer to see if I need to make anything else as well as make a list of any other little things we need to pick up for baby and the things I'm going to need for postpartum and go shopping for said things.  And of course deep clean the house, but you'll notice this is last on my list.  We'll see if that actually gets done or not.

We're getting there!