37 weeks.

I am now at the point where I am so over being pregnant. We've been to the hospital 8 times in the last 2 weeks because of my back pain and they still can't tell me for sure what it is. I've been contracting ever 1-3 minutes for the past week and a half but no progression! This same thing happened with Owen. I didn't have any progression until my water broke. Oh heaven help me! The hospital told us that they really can't do anything for me anymore and that I'll just have to wait til it breaks! Everyday is such a struggle fighting with the pain and trying to keep Owen entertained. Luckily, Tim had a 4 day weekend this week and only has 3 days left of this rotation and is off for the rest of the November AND December. Poor guy has become Mr. Mom lately. I'm still boggled at how for such small people we always manage to have such huge babies? My small frame can't handle these last few weeks!

Tim had a "vision" that she will either come right after Thanksgiving dinner or just after we finished all the Harry Potter movies. (Owen came the night we finished all the Lord of the Rings movies.) I am PRAYING that he is right.

I'm still amazed at how different these pregnancies are. I had a much easier time with nausea with Owen but the last 3 months were so hard on my hips and I gained a TON of weight. With June I had lots of nausea, gained a reasonable amount of weight but not a ton and didn't have really any problems until the last few weeks. Maybe she'll throw me a bone during labor and just slide out! :-)

Stoner.

We've had a pretty rough week! 

Saturday morning I woke up with terrible pain in my back. I figured I had just slept weird and that it would go away but as the day progressed it got terribly worse. I had my baby shower that morning and didn't want to miss it so I put on a brave face, popped some tylenol and allowed the good company and delicious chocolate fountain to distract me. By the end of my shower though I was in some really extreme pain and my friends had to help me carry myself and my belongings down to my car. Still thinking I must've just pulled a muscle or something I kept trying the home remedies to relieve the pain. When nothing put a dent in my pain I finally freaked out and thought maybe I was in labor. 

We took Owen to a friends and headed to the hospital. Once there we were told I had a lot of blood in my urine (TMI?) and that my kidneys were inflammed from a severe UTI. I was really surprised since I hadn't felt any symptoms besides the back pain. Worse still the problems with my kidneys were causing contractions every 3 minutes. They pumped me full of fluids and antibiotics but my contractions still weren't stopping. At this point I just wanted to be out of pain and in my own bed. Reluctantly they gave me a shot of pain medicine that was supposed to knock me out for the night and allowed me to go home even though they were sure I'd just be back. Sure enough I woke up 4 hours later in extreme pain. Not wanting to go back to the hospital I spent the night crying and trying different yoga positions. 

We ended up back in the hospital Sunday night with the same story. I was sent home with pain medication again but a few hours later was in pain. 

Monday we finally found out that it was NOT a UTI and spent the entire day at the hospital to finally figure out I had kidney stones! I was shocked! I had never had them before and couldn't believe I was lucky enough to get them while pregnant. Luckily, the tests showed that they were in the process of passing so they allowed me to go home instead of keeping me in the hospital for 3 days. I'm home now with some pretty good pain meds and hoping that they pass soon. Tim and a friend of ours gave me a blessing and since then I've been doing so much better. 

I had an appointment with my OB the next day and was given an "order," to take it easy since my contractions are still 3 minutes apart (they are pretty small at this point) and they are actually started to dialate me. At 35 weeks I'm 1 cm dialated and thinning out pretty quickly. I'm doing my best to "take it easy," but it's really difficult. I have so much to do and a 30 lb son! Taking it easy is something that isn't easy at all! For now she seems pretty well settled in there and hopefully decides to stick around for another few weeks. :-) 

with Owen I was desperate for an induction by this point but with June I feel amazingly calm. I haven't even packed a bag or put her carseat in the car! She has just been a lot easier to carry and I'm feeling pretty zen. I am getting uncomfortable but I'm very okay with her staying put for awhile. We'll see how long that feeling lasts. :-)

Baby Shower.

Last Saturday my friend Lindsey (who is due only 3 days before me!) threw me an adorable baby shower for little June. We had a delicious chocolate fountain with all kinds of goodies and we had such a good time visiting and celebrating the upcoming arrival of our little girl.

My favorite part!
I ate so much of it I spilled some on my white undershirt and had to use my hair to cover it for the rest of the shower! :-)

The bulk of us.
(missing Joan who is taking the pictures and a few others who had left already.)

It was so much fun! We really have such great friends here in ABQ we feel so lucky!

Pumpkin Eater.

We went to Wagner Farms this morning to score ourselves a baby pumpkin. It was in the cutest little town and we had a good time sipping on fresh watermelon juice while chasing around the little guy.

Owen was very grabby.

Baby pumpkin and shadow man.

And of course.......

Plenty of green chile to go around!

Happy Halloween!

Spidey Senses.

We were a little lazy for Halloween this year. This was my original plan.

So cute, right? Turns out at 8 1/2 months pregnant, NOT so cute.

So instead this is what we came up with.

Owen is still a spider, I'm a lady with a basketball belly and Tim is Tim. 

Owen looked pretty cute. He got a little overwhelmed by the whole process but got the hang out it at the end. He even started carrying his pail and grabbing the candy from the buckets. Sadly, I brought my camera that didn't have a flash so we didn't get very good pictures.

Basketball belly.
I'm pretty swollen now so this was the perfect costume for me. Almost as good as wearing yoga pants. 

33 weeks.

Posting a little late. I've been tricking myself into thinking I'm not as big as I really am and pictures prove me wrong so I've been avoiding taking them. Nonetheless I want to remember this later on in life.

Here I am in my 33 1/2 week glory. I've reached the stage where very few things fit. I scored this shirt from Walmart for $3! It lets me live in denial a little easier. :-) Steadily gaining weight now (even though I'm still a little sick.) and always tired and swollen. I'm usually throbbing my the end of the night. June isn't much of a kicker but she sure does stretch! Right into my ribs! Ouch! She's so low now that when she moves I feel like she's about to fall out. She's very active now and causes lots of contractions and cramps.

Basically I feel like a flotation device and could fart anyone into an oblivion. Pretty excited to be down to my old size and not resemble something from the whale family. I've been dreaming about her a lot lately and picture her looking just like Owen. :-) Everyday is different. Some days I'm so anxious and excited to meet her and others I am so nervous I want to start crying. Lots of crying lately. Whale-like features as well as being this emotionally pathetic is where we're at right now. :-)

Only a few more weeks to go!

Chicken Little.

Went to the Botanical Gardens awhile ago and made some new friends. I didn't have my camera but my friend Lauren got these great shots of Owen and his new buddy.