35 Weeks and Counting...

• How far along: 35 Weeks
• Total Weight Gained: 30 lbs (started 107, currently 137) 
• Sleep: What is that? haha- its hard to come by
• Best Moment of the Week:  Working on the nursery with Mr.Pate! Putting away cute little clothes for our son that we will meet sooo soon!
• Movement: Tons of it. This week I officially started feeling hiccups also, and they are strong and consistent. I have also started feeling more movement down low (head or arms maybe?) which I hadnt been feeling.    
• Food Cravings: N/A  
• Food Aversions: N/A
• Symptoms: My feet and hands have started to swell some when I am outside in the heat, so I am glad I took my rings off. I am also wearing out very quickly these days. Huffing and Puffing, its really hard to bend over, have to pee constantly, cant roll over in bed, cant sit for longer periods of time, sore tailbone
• What I miss: Being able to roll over
• What I'm looking forward to: Bunko Shower this weekend and getting the whole house back to normal (instead of stuff being everywhere!). 
• Other news: The nursery is pretty complete now! Woo Hoo! I will try to take some pics and blog about it very soon. I am feeling pretty big these days and I am pretty sure me and these 90 degree days are not going to like each other- ha! I am just trying to keep at my exercising and good nutrition, because we are definitely in the home stretch! I just cannot believe it is getting so close. 5 weeks... wow. We go back to the doctor tomorrow to see Dr.Stice, one of Dr.Gass's partners. Hoping that goes well! 
• Gender & Name: It's a Boy! Griffin Alan Pate

Milestones:
According to Babycenter.com : Your baby doesn't have much room to maneuver now that he's over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it's so snug in your womb, he isn't likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times he kicks should remain about the same. His kidneys are fully developed now, and his liver can process some waste products. Most of his basic physical development is now complete — he'll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

Cloth wipes- suggestions please!

So the last of our cloth diaper stash should come in on Tuesday. That will give us 24 pocket diapers, 12 prefolds, and 4 covers I do believe. I have ordered a pail liner (we decided to go with a diaper pail in the nursery) this weekend, and we have 2 wetbags. We are ready...

Except for the whole cloth wipes thing. I want to just go ahead and use cloth wipes, bc it makes sense since we will already be doing the laundry etc. But there are several ways to go about this and I am just not sure what to do. So please give suggestions!

1. Should we buy cloth wipes from a website, washclothes from the store, or attempt to make our own (I do not sew AT ALL)?

2. Should we premoisten them or use the spray bottle route?

3. How should we store them?

4. How many do we need?

Help!


- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

34 week OB appointment

We had our 34 week visit to Dr.Gass today. And now we are officially on every week appointments, goodness! Today I had my Group B Strep test, which is where they take a swab from down there to see if you have Group B Strep. It is very common and most people carry it, but if you have a current infection of it then they highly suggest antibotics during labor so baby doesn't get it.

I also had my first vaginal check. This is a little controversial among natural childbirth advocates. Mainly because it can introduce bacteria, cause cramping, or cause mental anguish. You may get discouraged if there is no "progress" yet or too optimistic if there is lots of "progress". By progress I mean being dilated and effaced. It's important to remember that it's early and your body had plenty of time to do what it needs. It's also important to remember that the average non-induced birth happens around 41 weeks, so don't get in a hurry!

I decided to go ahead and do it. I wanted to know if baby was head down and just know things looked good down there! I am currently 1 cm dilated and 50% effaced. This is great news and Dr.Gass was so excited! Ha! My cervix already being that soft is a good sign that my body will be able to birth my baby vaginally (no guarentees obviously!). Often a woman's cervix is hard even at 40 weeks and can cause a long labor. Again it is important to remember that this info doesn't guarentee anything to come- it could be 42 weeks or soon. But my body is at least preparing.

Dr.Gass will be going on vacation during July 4th, so unless Griffin comes right on time we may have someone else. Next week we will see another Dr in the practice just in case. Dr.Gass feels that his partners will be supportive of my birth plan and desire for a natural birth.

My weight is the same, blood pressure is 100/60, and Griffin's heart beat was 144. Love that we are both doing well!!


- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

A bit of a tease

It's not completely ready, but here is a corner of Griffins world:


- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

It's coming along

We have been busy people in the Pate household, working hard to get the nursery done. I promise I will share it with you soon, nut right now this is taking up most of my time:






The decorating is almost complete actually, and we are trying to get everything organized and in it's own home by this weekend. Yay!! You can actually see our fireplace and the stacks around the house are getting much smaller! Woo hoo for progress!

And can I just say Griffin has enough 0-6 month clothing to put him in a different outfit everyday without repeating... Goodness!


- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Menu Plan Monday!

• Monday: Porcupine Meatballs, egg noodles and green beans (Its so yummy!)
• Tuesday: Brats on the Grill for Mr.Pate (Ill be in G-town)
• Wednesday: Dinner at Church (Tacos)
• Thursday: Brown Gravy Pork Chops with mashed potatoes
• Friday: Leftovers (Ill be in TN seeing Duke and meeting HADLEY!)
• Saturday: Homemade Pizza

Anyone wanna share recipe ideas with me?? I could use some new ideas!!

34 Weeks and Counting...

• How far along: 34 Weeks
• Total Weight Gained: 28 lbs (started 107, currently 135) 
• Sleep: Not really, but I am getting used to the lack thereof 
• Best Moment of the Week:  Starting on the nursery!  
• Movement: I am officially at the stage where sometimes my belly is moving in those crazy waves! Ha! Mainly when I lay down he starts rolling all over and my belly looks like an alien is in it. Pretty fun!   
• Food Cravings: N/A  
• Food Aversions: N/A
• Symptoms: Huffing and Puffing, its really hard to bend over, have to pee constantly, cant roll over in bed, cant sit for longer periods of time, sore tailbone, heartburn (it returned this week- but i got medicine!) ... 
• What I miss: Being able to roll over
• What I'm looking forward to: My church shower in a few hours, our OB appointment this Thursday, and working on the nursery!
• Other news: Well the ticker to the left says 41 days to go- 41!!! That is crazy. My Dad and Aunt came up and got the nursery painted this week, and Mr. Pate and Dustin moved stuff out and the crib in! It actually looks like a nursery now. So exciting! Now we are working on organizing and finding stuff its home, and decorating. I had to take my wedding rings off yesterday. They were starting to get snug and I dont want to wait till its too late. So that feels weird of course. Some people who werent able to make it to my showers have been sending us gifts in the mail and that is so fun to come home too! I think thats about it so far... so much to do and so little time! 
• Gender & Name: It's a Boy! Griffin Alan Pate

Milestones:
According to Babycenter.com : Your baby now weighs about 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) and is almost 18 inches long. Her fat layers — which will help regulate her body temperature once she's born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you've been nervous about preterm labor, you'll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.

We are being invaded

We have officially started in on the nursery! Yay! But before I get to pics of that, I thought I should share with you what my house had looked like the past few months.

A crib has lived in my living room in front of the fireplace:


Corners of my living room are stuffed with baby things:


My entire sunroom is covered with baby stuff and randomness:






I love and feel blessed that we have baby stuff that can overtake us, and I am not taking that for granted. But it is hard to live with piles all around when you are a type a type of lady.

All I can say is I am glad Baby Griffin won't have to live in front of the fireplace!! Ha!

- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Swelling Swelling

As I have said before, I have been very blessed this pregnancy so far. I have felt great, didnt get sick and havent felt the "pitfalls" of pregnancy that most hate. I actually feel prettier than I ever have before, and I have a different peace than I have ever had. It is a neat journey the Lord is taking me thru.

Anyhow, now that its getting warmer I am wondering if I will experience the dreaded swelling side of pregnancy. Here is a great article on preventing swelling, thought I would share!

http://blogs.babble.com/being-pregnant/2011/05/17/swollen-ankles-a-fact-of-pregnancy/

Bradley Birth: Interventions Part 2

It is finally time to finish sharing what all I learned in my Bradley Classes! You can find all the other Bradley Birth posts I have done here.

Last time I started sharing about different Interventions we learned about in class:

Bradley Classes are all about helping you to avoid "interventions". Intervention is when doctors have to intervene with your labor with some type of medical procedure. The thought process on avoiding them is that "intervention begets intervention", or one intervention often leads to more interventions. This is where I think Bradley classes get kinda controversial for some people, because as a society, American Birth is filled with interventions. Usually we really like our interventions too. 

So what are some common interventions or procedures/policies and why would they maybe not be the best route for us? I am going to go over some we have talked about in our class in a series of posts. I am not fully sure where we stand on several of these, and please remember I am not sharing this info to tell anyone their way of laboring is wrong etc. I just want to share new things I am learning and processing through.

So on to the next few:

Electronic Fetal Monitoring (EFM): 

• This is when the doctors or nurses monitor your baby's vitals electronically. They like to keep an eye on the Baby's heartbeat throughout labor. 
• This can be done Externally or Internally. 
• External is done by strapping a monitor onto the Mom's stomach. 
• Internal is done by sticking a monitor on to the babies head by going through the vagina. 

This is a very common practice today. In majority of movies you see them coming in to check how the baby is doing through the monitor. So this is just normal to us. Most doctors want to do EFM at least 15 minutes of every hour of labor. The external method is more common. 

The reason this is considered an Intervention is because quite often the info they get from EFM leads to other interventions like a c-section. It is very neat that we can now check on Baby and see how he or she is doing, but sometimes we over read the situation.  Often changing positions can calm baby's heartbeat down, or eating a little can make it come back up it drops a little low. But instead of trying these things, EFM is a direct reason many doctors choose to rush a woman into a c-section. So limiting EFM can prevent this misdiagnosis. 

Our doctor requires 15 minutes of the hour. I tried to get him to agree to 10 minutes but it was a no go. Mr.Pate and I decided this is not one we really want to fight, because we feel prepared to not freak out and jump to conclusions or get rushed into something we dont think is best. 

Vaginal Exams:

• This is when the nurse or doctor exam your vagina. They are looking to see how far dilated a woman is, how far effaced her cervix is, if they can see the baby, etc. 
• Some doctors or nurses try to do these every hour of labor, and others do it every 3 or 4 hours. 

This one can really put the pressure on. The more you check the more you could get hung up on a number. It is important to remember that the body prepares at different rates. There is not a set 1 cm an hour process here. So even if a woman is "stuck" at 4 cm for several hours, she could suddenly dilate to 10 in 5 minutes. Bradley Classes push you to not rely on vaginal exams and instead to look at the external signs of labor to see how you are progressing (more on this later, but basically what is mom's demeanor etc). The birth process has a lot to do with your mental state, so you dont want to feel defeated. Also, the more vaginal exams you do the more opportunity to introduce bacteria into the vagina or birth canal. 

Our doctor believes in really spreading these out to every several hours and not getting hung up on it. 

Episiotomy: 

• This is when they cut the area between the vagina and the anus to prevent tearing when the baby comes out. 
• Some doctors do this automatically and others only do this when they see the need during the pushing phase. 

Episiotomies take longer to recover from and can really hurt. But if you have to have one of these and you are going natural, there is a time when the doctor can cut and you wont even feel it (your perineum will be blanch white from the pressure of pushing and this makes it numb) so be sure to talk to them about this. 

It is important to realize that ripping is not an absolute given. If you have done lots of squatting beforehand, your perineum (the area they would cut) will be more stretched and flexible. This is why you need to be doing those exercises I discussed here! 

So thats a few more interventions we have discussed. More to come! Any thoughts or questions on these??

What a Day

What a day- or better yet- what a week!

::: I was supposed to start my "summer hours" this week (7:30-3). I went in at 7:30 everyday, but the earliest I made it out was 3:30 one day. Most days it was 4 or 4:30.
::: Why you ask? Because this week we had training all day for a new software system we are moving to at my job. Yay...
::: Today just has not been my day
1. I had an issue with a receipt for work and had to go to a Mexican restuarant 4 times to get it straightened out... Yes 4 times! Only one guy in the place knows how to run a refund through the credit card machine. Ugh!
2. I go to pick up my thyroid medicine and one of the pills is on back order... Yep backorder. So the pharmacist and I had to figure out what I could do because I have to take this medicine everyday. Yay. (we did figure it out though)
3. It just seemed like everything I tried to do did not work today! Just annoying.

On to other things:

::: We have officially started on the nursery! My dad and aunt came up and painted it yesterday and the room looks so much better! Yay! Pics coming soon.
::: I am grocery shopping tonight, goodie. Ha!
::: Then my goal is to get my hospital bag packed. Gotta get that to do list done!
::: I have a shower at church this Sunday. Woo hoo!
::: Tomorrow night we are working on get furniture in the nursery- I can't wait!!!
::: Next week I get to meet Duke's baby girl Hadley!!! How fun!


Ok off to buy some grub. Happy Friday night!


- Mrs.Pate via my iPhone

Shower #2

My second Baby Shower was the very next day in Gallatin thrown by my wonderful Sister! She is quite the party planner and always goes above and beyond. The decorations were awesome! It was really great to get to go home and see family and friends I rarely get to see! Here are some pics from the day:

How cute is this?? Love the duckies in the punch! 

Some of my bff's: Karen, Alysa, Me, Cort & Jamie

Look how blessed this baby is! 

Me & Karen trying to compare bellies! She is 29 weeks and I am 33 weeks. 

My sister, me and Mom

A family photo where Dad and Mom's eyes are actually open?? No way! Haha!

Thanks everyone! It was such a good afternoon and so good to catch up! I wish we had taken pics of everyone that came, but I was too busy talking to people. Oops! Misty- you did an amazing job and I hope you are relaxing this week! 

Shower #1

My first Baby Shower was in Bowling Green and thrown by my best friends from college. It was so fabulous! I loved getting to catch up with old friends who I dont get to see a ton. Those in attendance were: My mom, Alissa & Molly, Whitney & Ellie, Sarah, Jenny, Amanda Borders, Cheye, April and the hosts- Amanda, Melanie, and Elizabeth (Duke was there in spirit). I didnt have my memory card, but Mel took some pics for me. Here are some of the pics:

Some of the decorations

A cute cuddle blanket with Griffin's name on it! 

Some of the fabulous guests

Amanda and cute little Eleanor

Alissa trying to guess how big I am... 

Gifts! 

April & Lana, Elizabeth, Melanie, Me, Amanda & Scarlett, and Cheye

My hostesses minus Duke, who was there in spirit! 

And my Momma! 

Thanks so much everyone who came and my wonderful friends for doing such a good job! I felt very showered with love!!