Baby #3 Week 33

This has been an interesting week. We learned that Shep may have an issue with his kidney. We have a doctor's appointment this afternoon to learn more. We continue to pray for this little guy and that the problem resolves itself. I'm anxious to learn more at our appointment today.

I'm feeling a little frazzled about delivery. I really wanted to try to go into labor on my own but have feeling they will try to schedule something early. I'm trying to hold out as long as Shep wants.

We made some major nursery progress last week and I'm excited that the crib is in place. I spoke with a lady that will be making his bumper pads yesterday and am excited to get the ball rolling on those! We're taking a break this weekend but will hit the nursery hard next weekend and hope to have it complete within the next four weeks.

I've ordered a bunch of personalized things for Shep this week and am so excited for the packages to start arriving!

I'm really finally feeling pregnant. I have to sit back in my chair to give Shep room to move. If I sit up straight he moves around a ton. I feel like he's trying to stretch out :) It is taking me a little more effort to roll over and bend over. After a long day I'm ready to hop into bed for some rest. I get a little out of breath when I lay on my back.

Again, it is crazy to compare this pregnancy to last time. At 33 weeks with the twins I was 2cm dilated and 60% effaced. I was sent to labor and delivery because my blood pressure was high, I was having pre-term labor and they thought that I might have preclampsia. The twins also got steroid shots at this point to mature their lungs for delivery. I am so thankful that this pregnancy continues to be uneventful, that I am able to continue caring for the twins, and able to be at work.

33 weeks with Shep

33 weeks with twins

Pregnancy Highlights:

Today's Date: Friday, February 28th, 2014

How Far Along: 33 weeks

Pregnancy Countdown: 49 days or less

Size of babies: A Durian (what is that?) The babiy weighs between 4.2 to 5.8lbs (Measuring in at 5lbs as of Tuesday afternoon) and should be between 17.2 and 18.7 inches long. 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: Still at 20lbs (I was up 44lbs at this time with the twins)

Maternity Clothes: Yes, the tops are getting tiny! I had a little belly hanging out incident at lowe's this past weekend. My poor mother was so embarrassed. I need to get a few new pieces to get me through!

Gender: Boy- Arthur Shepherd Carroll

Movement: A TON! Shepherd has become crazy! Especially during 9-11am. I have to sit far away from my desk or he'll kick it and it hurts! He flips and rolls and I can see body parts sticking out of my stomach.

Sleep: Sleeping pretty well. I woke up last night in the middle of the night and it took me awhile to get back to sleep because Shep was so active. I am still staying up until 11 and waking up around 6:15.

What I miss: sushi... I cannot wait to have some!

Cravings: salads. It is so weird. I totally hate salad normally but that's all I've wanted recently (well that plus dessert). I've definitely not been eating as much because I get full really easy. I can eat a pretty big lunch and then just a small snack for dinner.

Symptoms: I am getting more frequent braxton hicks. the acid reflux let up for a little bit but comes back if I eat anything with tomatoes. I just start getting incredibly hot in the evenings and I had to dry my hair with the window open (it was 32 outside) this morning. I've been having some round ligament pain on my lower left side for the past two days.

Best Moment this week: all of the sweet prayers, comments, texts, and phone calls we've received from friends this week. Shep is one very loved little boy and everyone's concern for him has been heartwarming.

Baby #3 Week 32

I know that I've said this in the past few posts but OMG this pregnancy is sooo much easier! At 32 weeks last time I was told to stop working and so incredibly swollen.

Baby Shep at 32 weeks

twins at 31.5 weeks. whoa mama

This week was difficult only because the tiredness has set in. I'm still waiting for the nesting to set in! This weekend was go go go with a trip up north to visit my Dad. I really need to bank some sleep this weekend. We also really need to work on the nursery. Our glider arrived yesterday and we are hopefully going to pick it up this week or next (it's in Asheboro). I'm excited to see it. We are looking forward to lots of work on the pallet wall this weekend and hopefully painting the crib and dresser if the weather holds out. I don't think Jay will let me do any of the painting (too many fumes) but I'm pretty excited to see this paint sprayer in action. My goal for Saturday night is to work on the embroidery machine and get a few things done for Shep and the twins. Shep's fabric just came in and I'm planning to pick it up tomorrow afternoon so that my mom can get started on his bedding!

Shep has been a moving machine. He feels sooo much more substantial and he definitely doesn't like when I lay on the couch with my feet curled up. I can feel him punch my hipbones and kick my ribs at the same time. The craziest is the pressure I feel when he presses against me. I feel like he is going to pop out of my stomach!

Shep's hospital bag arrived this week and I loved seeing his first monogram! I told Jay that I was going to order his Easter basket liner tomorrow and Jay asked why he had to have one this year. The plan is to deliver on the 17th or 18th of April and Easter is on the 20th. Jay finally understood that we're probably going to be celebrating Easter in the hospital this year and therefore each child needed a basket!

I am still in shock that we have 8 weeks left. The babies have been so sweet and fun this week. They give baby Shep lots of kisses and just this morning have started to say love you! The weather this week has been so nice and I think we are all so ready for spring and Shepherds arrival!

I am still sporting my sling but met with the ortho doctor on Tuesday and got the good news that I only have to wear the sling for a few more days. The bone I broke is the quickest to heal in the whole body. I definitely have a partial tear in my AC joint in my shoulder and that should heal with time and rest. It is still really difficult to get the babies in and out of the carseats and I'm super thankful for my mom helping me extra this week.

We have an ultrasound on Tuesday and I am soooo excited to get a peak at our little guy! I'll hopefully have some pictures to post next week!

Pregnancy Highlights:

Today's Date: Friday, February 20th 2014

How Far Along: 32 weeks

Pregnancy Countdown: 57 or less days

Size of babies: A squash. The baby is 15.2-16.7 inches long and weighs between 2.5- 3.8 pounds 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: I haven't been great at weighing myself because I don't really care anymore. I don't think my face/arms/legs are gaining like last time. I think I'm holding still at 20lbs.  

Maternity Clothes: Yes, I'm fighting the urge to buy some spring tops.

Gender: Boy- Arthur Shepherd Carroll

Movement: This boy LOVES when mama eats! Green smoothies make him wiggle like crazy (as does ice cream). 

Sleep: We've had late nights due to getting back in the swing of things after being out of town. We had terrible storms the other night that kept me up from 2am-4am on Tuesday night. I was OUT at 10pm last night and slept hard until 6 but still don't feel rested. I still don't have to get up to tinkle! Thank you bladder! I am sleeping on my side now and couldn't imagine being on my tummy anymore.

What I miss: sleeping on my tummy, walking, my old feet, my not so jiggly tummy

Cravings: I didn't do any meal planning this week so dinners have been ugh. I've been craving Rusty's baked potatoes and Annie's mac and cheese. 

Symptoms: braxton hicks and round ligament pain are back! I was playing with the kids last night and had some majorly painful contractions. The skin across my belly button is getting kind of tight. Kind of weird to explain. 

Best Moment this week: Having a little downtime yesterday while my kids napped to just sit and watch my belly move (that sounds really creepy doesn't it). It is fun to be able to focus on Shepherd for just a little bit during the day.

Just for fun... this is a pic of my foot at the same point in my pregnancy time. OMG piggy piggy!

how sad do these piggies look? its bad when even your toes have rolls

Your baby's the size of a squash!

Still growing, your baby weighs in at about 2.5 to 3.8 pounds and measures about 15.2 to 16.7 inches.

Week 28

It's been a fun week around our house! After a stressful and busy Saturday, our nursery is almost complete and we're in love with it! Also very thankful for everyone that helped make it beautiful! 

My ultrasound last week was everything I could have hoped for and so relieved to see that the babies are doing so well. 

Is is safe to say that things are calming down around here?

I'll wait to make that statement until I take my three hour glucose (gestational diabetes) test. Yes, unfortunately I failed my 1 hour test at the doctor's office this morning. Not by much but still a fail. I'm more upset than I thought I would be about it. After reading more about it, I don't want to do ANYTHING that puts my babies' health in jeopardy. Gestational diabetes is complicated to explain. I've gotten some information here. It also seems like I'll need to start working out more. I can't really imagine this as uncomfortable as I am. Maybe I should try swimming laps...

Pregnancy Highlights:

Today's Date: Wednesday, April 25th, 2012

How Far Along: 28 weeks

Size of babies: A rutabaga. The babies are 13.6-14.8 inches long and weigh between 1.5 to 2.5 pounds (still in the same ranges as last week). 

Total Weight Gain/Loss: 17 pounds. I am actually down three pounds from last week. My eating pretty much stayed the same so I'm thinking it is just me adjusting to pregnancy. At the doctor today Emma Cate's heart beat was 145 and Holden's was 133. He must have been sleeping :)

Maternity Clothes: Yes, and even some of the tops are getting short. They did my belly measurement at the doctor today and I'm measuring at 35 weeks. 

Gender: Girl- Emma Cate and Boy- Holden.

Movement: There has been some crazy belly dancing going on in there. They also respond pretty well to rap music. I think they like the bass like their mama.

Sleep: Sleep was much better this week! I can still make it through the night (we'll 5:30am) without a potty break!

What I miss: tying my shoes without help

Cravings: None really this week. I figured that I would fail my glucose test so I started stocking up on healthy protein filled items. I had greek yogurt for the first time in forever and realized how much I missed it! Almonds have also been a yummy snack.

Symptoms: Braxton hicks and lots of trucker burps. I also learned today that I failed my 1 hour glucose test by 2 points! They want you to be at 135 and I was at 137 and 135 the two times they ran it. I'll be heading into the doctor next Wednesday for the three hour test. Until then I'm sticking to a protein and veggie filled diet. Buhbye carbs, fruits, smoothies, and sweets :(    

Best Moment this week: Seeing the nursery complete!

The other day while finishing up the nursery, I noticed my reflection in the mirror. Figured I'd take a pic of my bump busting out of my shirt.

27 weeks 4 days

27 weeks 5 days

sneak peak of our pics from the maternity session on Saturday

Your baby's the size of a rutabaga!

Putting on layers of fat, your baby now weighs in around 1.5 to 2.5 pounds and measures about 13.6 to 14.8 inches.

Nursery Pictures and Carseat Deals

Hope you had a fabulous weekend! My mom, Jay, and I had a crazy busy Saturday. My mom drove up Friday evening with all of the items she made for the nursery as well as a few things she needed to complete at our house.

We woke up early Saturday morning and hit the Belk Charity sale to pick up a few Lilly dresses for the maternity pictures and then headed to the craft store for some last minute supplies. I am so thankful to my mom and husband who worked their behinds off to make my "vision" for the nursery a reality! Our Sunday was spend being lazy (i.e. I stayed in bed until 3pm!). We finished up the weekend by a quick trip to the mall and a nice dinner out.

Now on to the nursery:

Jay has truly transformed this room. Here are some before and during pictures.

This is the best one I have of the before pictures. This room was our second guest room before it became a nursery.

Adult furniture out, some baby furniture in

Still had old art on the walls.

Chair before covering

closets before painting

Holden's "naked" crib

Emma Cate's "naked" crib

testing out the wall color

close up

Added the second glider

painted the upper half of the walls

painted the lower half of the walls

installed all of the board and batten treatment. Realized that the lower wall color was too yellow and needed to find a different color.

Adding the shelf above the board and batten. You can see it on the right hand side of the picture.

Missing a board and the shelving on the left side

unfinished closets

updated belly shot and nursery progress.

painting the amoire

one of my new favorite hobbies. Stalking my husband as he works in the nursery.

I've been spotted. Jay's finishing up the trim around the windows.

the lower walls are now painted white and the armoire is in place but has no hardware.

Other side of the room, everything is pretty much in place, the trim has been painted but the things on the shelves need to be moved around and the chairs are waiting for their covers.

Now, those are pretty much all the before pictures that I have! Here is the almost finished result.

Sorry the lighting is so crummy. These first 3 were taken on my iphone because I was too lazy to change out my lens on my DSLR to get wide angle shots.  This pretty much shows the entire nursery.

Details

Window Treatments

 My mom made these simple box pleat valances and we attached them to 4x1x? pieces of wood to adorn the windows. We're sticking to regular faux wooden blinds for privacy. The valances are made from the same tan linen fabric as the bed skirts and crib ties.

The Cribs

Both cribs are the Sophia style from Pottery Barn. They were super easy to put together and the crib mattresses we got from Buy Buy Baby fit in perfectly. The mobiles are originally from Pottery Barn Kids and we picked them up at the mothers of multiples consignment sale. They were still in their boxes! We went with a classic toile pattern for the outside of the bumpers and off-white with polk-a-dots for the inside. The cording around the bumpers is the same fabric as the window treatments, bed skirts, and crib ties. I had a hard time deciding on crib sheets and went with natural organic cotton jersey knit crib sheets from Buy Buy Baby. The bears in the corner were a shower gift and play different sounds (lullabye, womb, heartbeat). The animal blankets in the cribs were a gift from my mother in law and are the softest things I have ever felt! 

Those that know my husband, know that he can be a bit particular. After asking him what he thought of my mom's sewing, he said he didn't understand why the bumper pads were flat. He wanted them to be "fluffier". On Saturday morning, we headed to the craft store for batting to make them fluffy. The employee there warned us that having the fluffy bumper pads but the baby at a higher risk for suffocation. I know that all bumper pads are a suffocation hazard and we do plan on moving them out of the crib and replacing them with the mesh ones when the babies start moving around. We decided to stick with the flat kind until then. On Sunday we swung by PBK and after feeling all of those bumper pads, Jay proclaimed that my Mom's were much better than what we could have bought. :) I think she would be pleased. 

The crib skirts are not 100% finished yet. My mom is going to add pink/blue trim to the bottom of the skirt when she comes back Mother's Day weekend. The skirts will look similar to the window treatments but have pink or blue at the bottom rather than white.

These blankets were hand knit for us as a shower gift by the grandmother of a set of twins that both my mom and I taught. My mom had the girls as four year olds and I taught them as middle schoolers. They both cheered for me and we've become quiet close with the family.

The Gliders-

My mom would probably be embarassed that I'm putting these pictures up because the gliders are not done at all but I think they look great! She whipped up these in a few minutes for the nursery pictures. I know nothing about sewing so I'm using her terms, she basted them together for time being. She plans to take them apart, ad a lining so that the previous cushion fabric doesn't show through, add snaps to the arm rests, and trim the edges in the same tan linen cording that is on the bumper pads. She also said that all the wrinkles and gaps would be taken out in the new version. Like I said, I am so happy with what I've got now but she wants them to be fabulous. Also, the pink pillows are just for time being. She's going to make other pillows out of the scraps of fabric.  

The Changing Table

Not too exciting. The changing table is the Catalina dresser from PBK. My mom found it at the outlet near Atlanta and it was a great deal but was missing one knob. I decided to replace them with glass knobs and love how it turned out! The topper is also from PBK but I found it on craigslist for $40. I think it was originally like $120. I like that it is removable so we can use it as a dresser later on. The color is really off in this picture. It is the same white as the cribs and gliders.

The Book Shelf

The bookshelf is also part of the Catalina collection from PBK. My mom found this piece at the outlet too. I love that it is short and we can put it in front of the window without blocking too much light. The books are ALL courtesy of our friends and family who spoiled us at the Baby-Q shower (pics still to come!). The canvas bins were our easter baskets this year. The sweet lamb banks were a gift from Jay's Aunt Vic and the lamb night light was a gift from his sister Ivey.  

The Armoire

We painted this the same color as the top of the walls and added glass knobs for a little makeover. I'm really pleased with how it turned out! The crosses are gifts from Jay's mom.

The Decorations

(descriptions are at the bottom of each set of pictures)

Our hospital bags are from Land's End. My talented friend Jennifer made the adorable bag tags for us as part of a shower gift! She also sells them on her blog, JM Papers. 

This teddy bear was given to me by a student and her mom as soon as I announced I was pregnant! This is one of the softest stuffed animals I have ever touched. I wasn't quiet sure where to put it but my mom and Jay both suggested on top of the armoire to give the room some height and I loved it up there! The frame is from my mother in law and it says "Twins, two are better than one!". I love it!

My mother in law also gave us this cute magnetic family frame. Jay did all the arranging and I think he did a great job. We just need pictures to fill all these frames in!

These frames are currently above the changing table but will relocated when another piece of art we're getting comes in. I'm not sure exactly where they will go but we'll find the perfect spot! These were also bought for us by my mother in law and match the lamb banks perfectly! 

I put these pictures up on facebook and had a lot of questions about these monogrammed signs. Jay and I actually made them ourselves. Jay made the frames from molding and I covered sheet metal (the light-weight kind used in air ducts) with nursery fabric. The letters were purchased at JoAnn's and Michael's. JoAnn's had the large letters and Michael's had the smaller ones that matched. I painted them the same color as the top of the nursery walls. The tiny E and C in Emma Cate's monogram were black to begin with so I primed those with white spray paint primer. I would suggest priming ALL the letters before painting because it helped the paint stick so much better! We added heavy duty magnets to the back of the letters. I figured these board could double as magnetic memo boards and be recovered as the decor changes. 

btw- I know that Emma Cate's toile is facing the wrong direction. I ran into the board before it was up and knocked the letters off. Jay scrambled to rearrange right before the photos. We'll have to fix it soon :)

One last bit of excitement. Jay and I were debating what to do about carseats. We have two infant carriers and bases for my car but weren't sure about what to do for his car. We thought about ordering another set of bases but with each base being $84 we didn't know if we wanted to spend the money on that or use it towards purchasing the convertible seats that the babies could ride in now and also when they outgrow their infant carriers. Lucky for us, the Britax seats we wanted went on sale $100 off on Zulily. I quickly snapped up four of them. Two for our car and two for my moms. I love getting deals!