Two Months!

Well Ladies (and maybe some Gentlemen), my little boy hit the two month mark on February 10th and I am just now getting around to writing about all the exciting things he has been up to!

First, Peter went to his very first restaurant, Bonsai, the night after he got his six week shots.  It was amazing!  He slept through the entire meal.  However, we got home from eating and it was literally the worst night since he had come home.  To make matters worse, he was running a little fever so there was some, fairly mild panic about that.  I am dreading his four month shots.  DREADING!  

Peter's second meal may have been at the Cherokee the following day.  Just saying.

Peter also got a chance to wear some blue jeans and a big boy t-shirt out to eat Mexican one night before the Super Bowl.

He has gotten very smiley!  I mean, no offense to anyone reading this, but my kid is way cuter than anyone else's kid. He just has the best disposition.  He really only gets upset when hungry or when tired.  Pete started daycare on February 3rd and the ladies that watch him told us that they only ever see him cry when he is hungry.  That seems to be true at home. 

Speaking of, we love his daycare and the sweet women that watch Peter.  It is so comforting to like and trust the workers at your child's care facility. 

Its been a very, very cold winter so Peter has stayed inside a good bit, but we did take a chance to stroll around our neighborhood during a brief break from winter.  He also got to play in his very first snow, which was fun to photograph.!

Mimi and Pop came to babysit Peter while Jake and I celebrated my 30th birthday.  My present was a grown-up date and a hotel room in Jackson so I could sleep relatively uninterrupted (I still had to pump), but still be near Pete,  It was just awesome!  Pete had a good time while we were gone and as you can see from the picture of him sleeping with his pop, did not even miss me much.

At his six week appointment Pete weighed 12 lbs and 9 ounces and he was 23.5 inches long!  Peter is a big, healthy boy!  He is 80th percentile for height and weight and 90th percentile for his head circumference.  He got several vaccinations, and as I mentioned above, that was not a fun experience.   Peter is starting to sleep better, but not great.  He usually goes to bed around 9 and then wakes up around 1:30 or 2 am to feed, he goes back to sleep and then wakes up again about 4:30. He is still feeding great and eats about every 2.5 to 3 hours.  Peter now weighs 15 pounds and is in size two diapers!I think we all now where this height is going to come from.

In all honesty, I just fall more and more in love with Peter everyday.  I think working has actually helped that, because I have time to miss him and it makes me appreciate the time that I am with him at home even more.  

We love our smiley little boy!

One Month Old!

On January 10, 2014 Peter turned one month old!  Like many things in my life right now, this post is woefully late.  Peter is actually 6 weeks old as I type and getting ready to get his first round of vaccinations tomorrow morning (Ouch!).  I am going to try to keep his first month straight from whats been going on in his second month, but some of this may blur together.  This is going to be long and filled with things I want to remember.  You may get bored if you are not me reading this!

Peter:

At one month you have mainly been eating, pooping and crying.  Note that I don't mention sleeping, because that has not been your favorite.  

When we left the hospital you weighed 7 lbs and 4 ounces, down from your birth weight by almost a pound.  We were told this was normal and we were also told we should expect it to take some time for you to get back up to birth weight, especially since you are breastfed.  However, you exceeded expectations big time.  When we went for your two week check-up on Christmas Eve you weighed 8 lbs 10 ounces and you had grown almost a whole inch!  In  a little more than a week you had gained almost two lbs and grown almost a whole inch!!!  Your dad and I high fived right in front of God and everyone in that office we were so excited!  Then I took you back a week later because I thought you were having some reflux issues and you weighed 10 lbs and 3 ounces! This was all big news because you had a touch of jaundice when you left the hospital and we kept having to go back for checks of your bilirubin levels.  You were eating great, but you weren't really gaining weight or having proper bodily functions.  Turns out you weren't getting hind milk which is high in fat and helps baby livers clear bilirubin out and start functioning.  Once we figured out what was wrong we learned how to correct the problem.  It wasn't easy, but the fact you had gained so much weight in a matter of days meant we had done something right (and that the lack of sleeping was not for nothing!)

Since day one you have been a great eater, great latcher, great burper. For the entire first month of your life you ate almost every two hours on the dot.  Occasionally you would eat every hour and a half or go as long as every three hours, but that was the exception not the rule.  I'll be honest, your eating schedule was very exhausting.  You would occasionally do a three hour stretch at night, but not often.  You also HATED napping.  I could sometimes get you to do a 2 hour nap during the day, but most of the time the longest you would sleep was an hour or so at a time.  You would also sleep mainly two hour stretches at night.  This led to mom being at her wits end with exhaustion!  Plus, there was a great deal of crying when you were awake that we were having a lot of trouble getting a handle on.  The weekend after you turned one month old, Mimi and Pop came to give your parents  some sleep relief.  That Friday night you slept 5 hours straight, woke up once to eat, went back to sleep quickly and then slept almost 6 hours!  It was amazing! You took great naps and then Saturday night did similar lengthy stretches.  I thought we had turned a corner and I was so grateful.  Then that Sunday night you went to sleeping, maybe 45 minutes at a times for about a week.  GRRRRR little boy.  GRRRRR.  

We have mainly put you in your crib to sleep at night and for naps (when not being held, see below).  At first this was pretty hard for me, I wanted you to sleep in our room, but now I am glad we did that. I have started letting you sleep in the pack n' play in our room or nap in the swing/bassinet downstairs, but that is an explanation for your two month post.

Speaking of Mimi and Pop, they came to stay the first week you were around town.  Your dad was off work while we were in the hospital for a week, but had to go back that next Monday.  He took off several days around Christmas and then your Grandmama and Aunt Abbey came for a week after Christmas day.  I had so much help with you at first, I can't imagine what people who don't have that kind of support do.  I was still recovering from surgery so all I did was cuddle with you, feed you and sleep.  Everyone else did everything else! Plus, we had so many people who brought us food and I had made up several casseroles, that we still have half a freezer full as I type this post and I have not cooked a meal from start to finish yet!  

Peter, you hated tummy time this month and I am guessing that doesn't change anytime soon.  You didn't take a pacifier, didn't really like your swing and in general just kind of stared into space.  We would sing to you and you would start crying.  We would try to patty cake or play peek-a-boo, you would start crying.  The one thing you seemed to really like was a rainforest vibrating chair that your Aunt Maggie gave you.  It was a lifesaver!  

You mainly wore newborn clothes and some 0-3 month.  However, it really was like you skipped over a size, because now you wear mainly 3-6 month clothing due to your length.  You have clothes coming out of my eyeballs, but if I do buy you anything I am hoping you will stay in the 3-6 month range for a while.

Peter, I am guessing that between your grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends and of course, your dad and I, there are a thousand pictures of you!  You have every stuffed animal I can think of, most of the books I have heard of for kids and every conceivable form of electronic soothing device, activity mat and plush toy.  All that to say you are spoiled rotten!  We have such a time putting you down to sleep and I am convinced its because the first two weeks of your life none of your grandparents would really lay you down when you fell asleep in their arms.  Neither did I though, so I share fault on that front.  I did start to ask people to put you down, but you would have thought I was torturing people with that one.  

We took your one month pictures and I couldn't get you to prop up by the stuffed animal I wanted to measure you by, so I have several of you either laying down or sitting in the aforementioned rainforest chair!  However, we have tons of other "one month" pictures that I will have to thumb through with you one day.

Peter, you are so loved!  Frustrating at times for sure, but so loved.  I have never seen anything like your dad looking at you and to be honest, I have never felt like I would jump in front of a train for someone until I got to know you this month.  I wouldn't say either of us were immediately that way, what with surgery and just the overwhelming sense of responsibility that comes with parenthood initially, but by the end of this first month you had both of us around your fingers along with everyone else!

I can't wait to watch you grow up and I am looking forward to writing next months post bubby!

Peter James Malatesta

Peter James Malatesta was born on December 10, 2013 at 12:39 p.m.  He weighed 8 pounds, 2 ounces and was 21 inches long.  Its hard to believe that it has already been a month since the big day, because to be perfectly honest, everything is a bit of a blur.  So let me rewind.

On December 9, 2013 I went to the doctor for what would be the last time.  I was 39 weeks by the calculation of my initial due date, but when the sonographer measured my fluid level, I was more like 41 weeks.  Which was about right.  I had an ultrasound and everything looked great.  The only problem we had was that the baby was estimated to be almost 10 pounds!  I knew what that was going to mean and I cried the minute the woman said it.  She started to worry that she had upset me and was trying to tell me that was good news.  Peter was a big, healthy boy!  However, I managed to squeak out that I did not want to deliver a 10 pound baby like some woman on the discovery channel before being quickly escorted from the room.

The real reason I was upset was because I knew my doctor did not want me to deliver the baby vaginally (sorry everybody, there is no other way to say that) if he was estimated over 9 pounds and I had not made a lot of movement on the dilation/effacement front (again, sorry).  Jake and I went upstairs and I was bracing myself for a fight.  I wanted to deliver the baby and not have a C-section.  However, when I got checked there had been absolutely no movement and it turns out, I had been given an overestimation of change the last two times I had been to the doctor.  I was miffed.  He took us into his office and we had a good discussion.

Let me stop here and say that I love my doctor.  I trust him.  I also have worked on several cases and studied many lawsuits involving OBGYNs.  I knew the stats.  He quickly advised I needed to have this baby ASAP.  In fact, he said if I had not had lunch, he would have taken him that afternoon.  I knew why he was advising us to have the section.  I knew that more "granola" people would have shouted him down that the "baby is too big" and the "no change" in d/e reasons were not good enough to not try to deliver Peter myself.  My doctor fully supported me trying to deliver Peter, but he advised us that he just did not see that happening.  He thought the most likely scenario was that I would be induced, labor for a long time and still have to have the c-section.  After talking through it and what the surgery would mean for me recovery wise and with future pregnancies, Jake and I decided to do it.

Looking back I am so glad we did, but I'll get to that.

After the doctor's visit, I was pretty upset.  We made calls to our families to let them know we had scheduled Peter's birth for the next day.  In an awful twist, Jake's dad was on a plane to New York (we had no idea) thankfully with a layover in Atlanta, so when we got him on the phone he had to turn around and come back for the big day.  Everybody was excited.  I thought I was going to throw up.  I made a few more calls and then we decided to go out for a last meal.  We wanted to take a picture at the restaurant, but did not. However, for your viewing entertainment, please find the only solo picture of me pregnant taken the night before the big day.  I say solo, but Yazoo is also pictured:)

I had told my doctor that I needed some anxiety meds and he gave me a prescription so I actually slept great that night!  I woke up the next day and was very calm.  Possibly a hangover from the meds taken the night before, but who knows.  Jake was actually much, much. much more nervous than I was at dinner the night before and that morning.  We headed to the hospital about 9:30 with a scheduled go time of noon.  When we arrived, it was all very weird.  I had seen myself coming in the hospital doors panting and almost ready to pop, like in a movie.  Instead we waited in the waiting room for about 30 minutes, filled out some paperwork at registration, saw my parents and then walked back to pre-op.

Now I had never been in the hospital before.  Never broke an arm or had stitches.  Nothing.  So my calm demeanor started to deteriorate as things became more real.  They did blood work, an IV, a catheter and then we waited.  I did a lot of crying and Jake made a lot of bad jokes in an effort to get me laughing.  Honestly, the worst part of the actual prep or procedure itself is the catheter.  The spinal was nothing.  Once I was wheeled back and got the numbing juice I didn't feel a thing. None of the dreaded pulling or pushing.  However, the one thing about the section I did not like was that when they pulled Peter out the spinal got pushed up and I could not swallow.  Scared me to death.

Once Peter was out and I knew he was okay, I completely spaced.  I wish I could say the heavens opened up and I was consumed with love for my child, but the truth is, I really don't remember much about seeing Peter.  I remember being very worried and asking about him.  I remember Jake teary eyed.  I remember the doctor showing him to me and that's about it.  We actually have a lot of pictures and I don't remember any of them.  Peter supposedly peed on me and I do not remember.  What I remember most after the delivery was freaking out about not being able to swallow and wishing the doctor would hurry up.

After they wheeled Peter to the nursery, the anesthesiologist started pushing Demerol and everything went even more hazy.  I don't remember the rest of the day.  I vaguely remember skin to skin with Peter and nursing him for the first time.  I kind of remember seeing my parents and Jake's parents.  That's it.  The next real thing I remember is the next morning when the night nurse woke me up to take the dreaded catheter out and to force me to go to the bathroom.

When I was much more lucid I found out that the umbilical cord had been wrapped around Peter's neck and that his head was not positioned correctly.  In fact, my doctor told me that his head was at such an angle that he very likely could have choked if I had tried to deliver him and if my doctor had allowed it once he realized the cord was wrapped around him.  So the "too big" section was actually a big blessing!

All in all, I don't regret the section.  Its not what I wanted, it was a very hard recovery, but it was what was best for Peter.

When I get a minute, I am going to do a whole other post on Peter's first month, newborn pictures and my initial thoughts on motherhood.  Spoiler alert:  breastfeeding is the hardest thing I have ever done.

4 a.m. We Meet Again-Week 38

I am full term!  Woohoo!  I have reached the point where no position is comfortable and I am just ready to go to the hospital to GET THIS KID OUT!  Its funny, a few weeks ago I was really nervous about labor.  Now, I would welcome a real contraction like it was my best friend.  I am still nervous, but I have decided that pregnancy has got to be worse at this point.  At least with labor, I will have an epidural and the finish line in sight.  

At 38 weeks, regular sleep and I seem to have gone our separate ways.  I can go to bed at 8:30 or midnight, doesn't matter, and I will wake up like clock work at 3:30 or 4.  Then I am exhausted (and look like crap) for the rest of the day.  I am also getting very tired of having to go to work, mainly because I am uncomfortable, not sleeping at night and as stated above, look like crap.  Everybody has been really sweet to me at the office, but I swear if one more person says something to the effect of "you look ready to have that baby" or "you look really uncomfortable", I am going to lose it.  There is one secretary, a new girl, who loves to comment on how miserable I look every time I walk to the bathroom.  When I came back after the flu last week, she also commented every time I coughed about how terrible I sounded and how awful that must be as pregnant as I am.  Grrrrrr.  Shut up!  I do not need to be reminded of how miserable I feel!  I am sitting at a desk still trying to bill and get work done!  I can also tell the men at my office are getting really nervous about my being there.  I think some of them are worried I will go into labor at my desk, but to be honest I am kind of worried about that too.  I   have decided that as best I can I am going to try to keep "school hours" these last two weeks.  I don't have that much to do in the way of work, since I am trying to bring everything to a stopping point, and I do not want to be at work if something happens.  My greatest fear about labor at this point is that my water breaks while I am at my desk and I have to explain to someone what has happened.

At my 36 week appointment we got to see Peter again on ultrasound.  I know I am biased, but I can tell he is adorable!  He was head down and it looks like he has dropped.  He was sucking his fist, which the tech kept saying was a good sign that he would breastfeed well:)  She also told Jake and I the somewhat disturbing news that she estimated his weight at 7 pounds and 13 ounces!  At 36/37 weeks!  Big boy!  Of course my doctor said that the estimate is off a good bit of the time (both ways, meaning he could be bigger), but he did mention (as I was walking out the door) that if I carried Peter to term we may need to talk about a C-section because he is expected to gain another two pounds before birth.  Uh, doc, I think that is something to mention earlier in the appointment so that we can discuss it thoroughly, not as I am walking out the door!  I fretted about it for a week and then when I went back he kind of back tracked.  I have decided I am not going to worry about it yet.  My mother gave birth to me and I was a whopping 9 lbs., 14 ounces.  My sister was a fairly big baby too and was delivered the good old fashioned way, so I have confidence that I can do it.   Of course, I will likely heed my doctor's advice if he recommends I not try to deliver Peter because he is going to be too big, but we will cross that bridge when we get there.   At the 36 week appointment I was 0 for 0 on effacement and dilation.  However, at my last doctor's appointment I got the good news that I was 25% effaced and 1 cm dilated!  I have a long way to go, but that was certainly promising information and the doctor actually talked to me about what to do if I went into labor over Thanksgiving!  Now I have read in my books (and on the internet) that I could sit at 1 cm for weeks, but I also could keep making progress.  Here is hoping for the latter, instead of the former!

Stats Time:

How Far Along:  38 weeks.

Size of Baby: According to my app he should only be like 6 and a half pounds.  According to the trained professional, he is probably already about 8 pounds!

Weight Gain: The numbers at this point are just scary.  I hope this weight comes off fairly quickly.  Come on breatfeeding!

Gender: Boy!  Peter James Malatesta. 

Movement:  He moves quite a bit.  It kind of hurts now because he is so big, but I still love feeling him squirm.  

Sleep: I miss you.

What I miss: Being comfortable, breathing, talking without getting out of breath, sleeping, not being a crazy hormonal mess, you know, normal functioning.  On another note, I am also really geared up about eating some sushi soon!

Cravings: I went to the grocery store on Tuesday night to get some items for casseroles I am freezing for after Peter arrives and I bought the stuff for spinach dip.  I ate that whole bowl, pretty much by myself, by the end of the night tonight (Wednesday).

Symptoms:  Lack of sleep and fatigue.  

Best Moment of the week:  Going to the doctor and finding out that I had dilated a full centimeter since my last appointment!

The Flu and Haircut Disaster...Week 36

Y'all I have the flu and it has been no joke.  First, let me say that I feel more than betrayed by my flu shot.  I'm down right angry about having gotten it and still ending up in this mess at 36 weeks pregnant.  Thankfully, I have a very mild case by most standards.  It still means I have to lay in bed for a few days to make sure I don't go into labor or anything, drink plenty of fluids and get lots of sleep, but it could have been so much worse.  I never had more than a low grade fever and it broke rather quickly Wednesday morning.

I caught the flu (or a mild case of something very much like it) from Jake.  In hindsight he started having symptoms Sunday night, but we didn't really think much about it.  He had been working in the yard and been stung by a bee and a wasp, so we thought he was having a mild allergic reaction to that.  By Monday, he was starting to show symptoms of something and was quarantined to the guest room until further notice.  He wasn't going to go to the doctor Tuesday, but thank goodness he did.  He immediately tested positive for the flu and I got on Tamiflu that night.  I thought I was going to be okay, but I woke up Wednesday morning and rapidly realized I was in for it too.  I went to the doctor and she said that because I started the Tamiflu when I first had symptoms, that I would probably not have a bad case and might not even run fever at all (at this point I was achy and tired, but no fever).  I came home and the fever did come later that morning, but soon after lunch it had broken.  Thanks Tamiflu!  Now I have just been in bed, mostly sleeping and watching bad TV.  I've done some work, but this is probably the longest I have ever been forced to stay home without working other than our vacations.  Hindsight might show this turns out to be a blessing.  The Flu forced me to slow down at the end of pregnancy and gave me a small taste of maternity leave.

In other news, I had a mental breakdown at the hair salon Tuesday night.  I have been going to La Cru for four years, but will not be going back.  First, let me say I was so disappointed in my experience.  I had been looking forward to my last pre-baby haircut for weeks and I had to cancel it and reschedule three times because of work.  Of course, on Tuesday I was already starting to feel bad and I was late leaving the office for my appointment because of a meeting that ran over.  I'm never later.  I have not been late to one single appointment before with my now former hairstylist in four years.  This was the first time.

Now, I have waited on her numerous times because she was finishing someone else or someone else came late.  Usually so she can finish working on older women, who I guess get expensive dye jobs.  She has pawned portions of my blowout or hair washing off on someone else more times than I can count for a number of reasons.  She always has a crisis during my haircuts, because she is the owner of the salon and the computer went down or everyone's tickets got erased or some client needs something.

On this night I was 15 minutes late.  I called to let them know and when I got there she was waiting acting like I was such a pest for being late.  Keep in mind, this is the first time I have ever been late and the first time she has ever waited on me.  Already, I could tell this would not be a good experience.  I apologized profusely.  Told her about my meeting that ran over and how sorry I was and how tired and pregnant I was.  To be honest, I generally would have totally gotten that I had messed up her bookings, but tonight I was expecting a little sympathy.  I did not get it.  Next, she started washing my hair and the whole time was telling me she would have to hurry because I was late and she had another appointment in like 20 minutes.  Next she starts cutting and she stopped and started so many times during the cut because of calls about dye she was trying to order for some other client and scheduling this and that, that I lost count.  She tells me she cannot blow dry my hair because I was late and she has another appointment, so she is going to have someone else do it.  Well, you could have left out the "because you were late part", but whatever.  Then, I was supposed to get my eyebrows done and had made an appointment with a specific girl, but some random girl, who had previously butchered my eyebrows, comes up and tells me she is going to do it.  I look at former hairstylist and I am like "that is not who I made any appointment with" and I get the "well, other girl can't do it because you were late" routine again.

At this point, I am mad.  I am tired.  I am coming down with the flu. I am almost 36 weeks pregnant.  I am on edge.  I am ready to blow.  So I start crying.  In public.  A nasty habit I have picked up in the last few weeks.  And I cannot stop.  She notices and starts trying to act nice at this point.  I'm embarrassed.  I run to the bathroom.  Everyone stares at me.  I'm mortified.  I pull it somewhat together because at this point, half of my hair has been cut so I have to finish.  She is now trying to tell me she will get other girl to do my eyebrows "but I'll have to wait" and she will blow out my hair "but I'll just have to wait."  I get it.  I was 15 minutes late and now your schedule is off.  A little kindness and making whoever was behind me wait would have been warranted at this point.  I have waited for other people to get finished before and I do not pay them to have some beauty school hacks finish their jobs.  She finishes and as kindly as I can muster, I tell her that I just want to blow dry my own hair.  She tries and tries to get me to let someone else do it, but I have had it.  So she gives me the blow dryer and "lets me stay at her station so I don't have to move" and I blow dry and cry.  People continue to stare, nobody tries to comfort me.  It truly may have been the most embarrassing thing to happen to me. Next, eyebrow girl gets me.  I can tell she knows that I did not want her to do it.  She is not nice.  In fact, she is downright rude.  So I keep it short, she keeps it short and we are done.  My eyebrows look awful, but cleaned up. I decide that I 'll get them fixed later.  I start two stepping out the door.  As I am leaving another hairstylist is literally talking about me so loud with former hairstylist that they get shushed as I walk by. Awesome.  I get a "have a nice night" from former hairstylist and go to pay.  I am still crying and everyone is being SO RUDE!  The lady at check out is basically like, here is you ticket.  I pay, I over tip (which in hindsight really has me pissed) and I leave.  I pull over in the parking lot because I am crying so hard I cannot drive and one of the hairstylists who was leaving literally stops and stares at me.  Awful does not begin to describe it.

I know it was super dramatic to keep crying like that, but I could not help it.  I really could not stop.  Every time I tried, I just cried harder and no one was making any effort to comfort me, offer me a glass of water, nothing.  They just stared and talked about (not so behind my back).  I get it, if that had been my first night there and I had done that, I would have thought "she is crazy".  But I had been going there for years, regularly, getting the same thing done, by the same people, and none of them made any effort to give me any consideration.  I was looking to get pampered a little bit, and not run out the door because I was late and hormonal. All that to say, I will not recommend that salon to anyone and I will not be going back. As the famous quote goes, "If you can't handle me at my worst, you sure don't deserve me at my best".  I am sure they won't miss my business and I am guessing they all had a good chat fest/laugh at my expense.

Enough of the drama, onto the stats...

How Far Along:  36 weeks Saturday

Size of Baby:  I think like about 5 and half pounds.  I had to cancel my last ultrasound because of the flu, so we will reschedule  (hopefully next week) and find this out for sure.

Weight Gain: Ditto what I said last time.

Gender: Boy!  Peter James Malatesta. 

Movement:  Lots of creepy alien movement I can see:)

Sleep: Pretty good.  I wake up one to two times a night, but I am going back to sleep fairly quickly.

What I miss: I would like to not cry in public anymore.  Lets hope I can hold out now until the end.  I have cried in church, at the grocery store, in my car numerous times and obviously, the hair salon.  Most of the time its over nothing.  A couple of times, its just been pure exhaustion.

Cravings: Not a thing.

Symptoms:  Heartburn is under control (Thanks Nexium!).  Mainly just fatigue at this point.  Some Braxton Hicks contractions too.

Best Moment of the week:  I am going to be honest, this week has not been one for the books.  We did get most of Peter's room finished a few weeks ago when I did not blog, so I'll count that!

Week 31ish

As of today I am exactly 60 days away from my due date!  Wooohooo!  I am ready for Peter to arrive and praying it all happens quickly and safely(and as painlessly as possible:))!

In the past few weeks I have been BUSY!  We have been out of town every weekend since September 21st.  I have also desperately been trying to get as much work done before my child arrives so that once he is here I can focus on him for 8 weeks!  Top that off with, we have had something to do at least two or three weeknights every week after work and I am going to be honest, I am running out of steam.  Thankfully, I see the light at the end of the tunnel.  I am really trying to start slowing everything down by November 16th so that I can coast into maternity leave as much as possible.  Don't get me wrong, I will still have lots to do, but if I can at least get my work stuff completed it will help with all my other goals.

A few bullet point highlights from the past few weeks:

- We went to Starkville for the MSU v. LSU game and had so much fun!  However, it was definitely exhausting.

-Childbirth classes-Wow.

-Fun fact from childbirth classes:  I found out your insurance has to cover a breast pump 100%.  I have my brand new Medella upstairs in Peter's nursery as we speak.  I still need to get some things for that process, but that was a big expense that we did not have to undertake:)

-Passed my glucose test!

-We also went to Oxford for the UM v. Texas A&M game which was so fun, but also exhausting!

-We headed to Starkville  again this past Sunday so I could go initiate Abbey into DDD!  It was very surreal to be back.  When I initiated my sister, I was still in law school and felt like a student.  At Abbey's initiation not only was I very pregnant, but very old.  It was somewhat bittersweet to listen to officers complain about OC meetings and tell actives to be quiet, mainly because where I had previously felt like that should still be me and my friends, I didn't feel like that anymore.  However, fun side note, I took a boy to initiation.  If only 20 year old Christy could see me now!

-On the the weekend of the 21st we stayed in Jackson and had a really fun date night!  We had not been out, just the two of us, on a nice date in a while.  So we went to eat at El Sombra in Madison and then went to see the Spectacular Now!  I loved the movie and really enjoyed having dinner just me and Jake.  We are both hoping we get to do a few more fun date nights before Peter arrives and we are homebound for a while:)

To the stats:

How Far Along:  31 weeks, but 32 on Saturday!


Size of Baby:  He is 3.3 pounds now, the size of a coconut (and I feel like I swallowed a coconut)

Weight Gain: I stopped weighing.  There is no reason to make myself feel any worse about the weight gain than I already do.

Gender: Boy!  Peter James Malatesta. 

Movement:  I don't know what he is doing in there, but it feels like he is trying to kick his way out!

Sleep: I am exhausted all the time, but sleeping much better at night.  For some reason, napping and I have broken up.  I am really sad about this and hope that we reconcile soon:)

What I miss: I don't really miss anything per se.  I am starting to miss real clothes and having energy.  I would like to not break out anymore and also not have heartburn.

Cravings: Sweets!  I have always had a sweet tooth, but I feel like it has multiplied by ten in the last few weeks.  I was doing so good!  I was really worried about the glucose test and once it was over, I guess my body decided it had permission to start craving major sugar.

Symptoms:  Heartburn. Heartburn.Heartburn.

Best Moment of the week:  Taking Peter to initiation:)  Oh, and getting to hang out with Abbey and see how excited she was to be initiated!  

Week 27 and a Baby Shower!

I know I am saying this a lot on here, but I cannot believe how fast time has flown by!  I'll officially be in the third trimester on Saturday, which is just crazy.  I'm feeling slightly more prepared as the weeks go by.  Jake and I have taken a child birth class together this month, learned infant CPR and toured the hospital where I plan to deliver.  Almost all of Peter's big furniture and bedding set has arrived for his room.  I believe that I have got a going home outfit for him and he has several special outfits that I have bought/he has been given by sweet friends.  I even have some diapers now, thanks to Aunt KK, though I'll probably go buy a lot more in the next few weeks:)

Today I am in bed with a bad sinus infection (yuck!), but this weekend I got to celebrate Peter's arrival with some of my closest friends.  I had such a good time and I cannot thank all of the people who came, especially the people from out of town, for the festivities!  The hostesses did a great job! I have a bunch more pictures, but below are some I stole from Elisha's Facebook page!

Like I said, it was so much fun and Peter got a lot of nice gifts and fun new books to read once he arrives in December!

Lately I have taken to just sitting in his room and imagining what it will be like when he gets here.  I don't think my mind will fully wrap around the concept of being a mother until they hand me Peter after the delivery, but I get enough of it now to know it is going to change my life forever.  It really only hit me once we toured the hospital that I was going to be giving birth much sooner, rather than later!  Hopefully, Peter will stay put for many more weeks so that I can finish up all I need to do before he arrives!  Things like work projects!  Christmas Shopping!  Cleaning!  Buying all the essentials for him and for breastfeeding!  Etc.!

In the meantime, I am looking forward to the remaining showers that are planned and just trying to rest as much as I can between all of the fun, but busy fall events.  We are staying in town this weekend without anything to do and I am so grateful!  I am going to have to catch up on some work thanks to the sinus infection, but I also plan on going to the Rhea Lana sale and taking it easy.

Here are the stats for this week:

How Far Along:  27 weeks, but I'll be 28 on Saturday.  Woohoo third Trimester!

Size of Baby:  He is about 2 pounds now, the size of a head of cauliflower, and I am measuring 29 weeks.

Weight Gain: The weight gain has slowed, but continues.  I had a goal to only gain about 30 pounds total for the pregnancy, because thats what my doctor recommended.  However, that goal does not look feasible anymore.

Gender: Boy!  Peter James Malatesta. 

Movement:  I think I am birthing a soccer player.  Either that or a field goal kicker!

Sleep: I have been sleeping much better the past few weeks, but I am not getting my weekend naps anymore, so that may have something to do with it.

What I miss: Not really much of anything right now.  I could do without the heartburn, but otherwise I am blowing and going pretty good.

Cravings: No cravings to report.  Actually trying not to indulge in this too much.  However, I definitely have had leftover shower cake for breakfast two mornings this week.  Oops.

Symptoms:  Heartburn. I can also tell I am starting to slow down.  This sinus infection has really knocked me for a loop too.

Best Moment of the week:  Celebrating Peter with some of my favorite people!