Check!

Yet another project checked off my to do list. Oh man, you have NO idea how much I like making lists and checking things off. I must be Santa reincarnate! (Don’t worry people, I don’t really believe in reincarnation...I was just taking a stab at trying to be funny.) So we finished painting and decorating the main bathroom. Here’s a before an after. Now I just have one more bathroom, and two hallways to paint and the inside of the casa is done!

Doula

Check out my doula at her website, Your Birth Connection

So we’ve hired ourselves a doula! We hired the doula that taught our hypno-birthing class to continue our care and to attend our birth. We love her. She is funny and super laid back and tells it like it is. She is just the personality I think we’ll need. Not to mention she has 23 years of experience and many stories of how she used creative ways to help moms birth naturally and prove skeptical medical doctors wrong when they came in and said things like “I’ll give you another half an hour but I don’t think you can push this baby out.”

At first Jason did not want a doula because he though then there would be nothing left for him to do. But then we met Evelyn and he really likes her and he’s come full circle. Now he wants her there and he’s relieved because he knows that she’s not going to take his place, she’s going to help him. She’ll be there to tell him what he can do to help me when he has no clue :) and she’ll be there to explain things to us and talk to us about risks and benefits and natural options that we can try before any medicine or medical intervention is used. Oh! We’re just so excited.

And she’s not just there for the birth. We meet with her regularly up until the birth so that she can get to know us and take on our values and help create the birth experience that we want. Not to mention that fact that she’s going to do hypnosis sessions with me to help me to continue to prepare to hypno-birth AND she’ll be there to help me with hypno-birthing every step of the way during labor. I’m very excited for all this! Here is her website. Check it out!

Baby Updates

So the last appointment we obviously found out it is a girl, I only gained one pound and she is perfectly positioned! I think I am equally excited about all three of those things. I feel her kicking under my right ribs all the time. Sometimes she wakes me up at night. She is very active! Here I am at 30 weeks! The same day that I found out it’s a girl for sure I went out and bought the perfect fabric. I made this valence and I’m going to use the extra to cover that pillow in the chair.Also, my drawers are starting to fill with clothing. I’ve gotten some and my mom has gotten us LOTS! At first it was all gender neutral stuff, which I still enjoy because if we have a boy next time I don’t want to have to buy ALL new stuff. But now she’s gotten me some super duper cute pink stuff. (Thanks mom!) Along with blankets and toys and diapers and such. At this rate I won’t even need any showers!

And these are the “Congratulations we’re having a girl!” flowers that Jason brought home the other night. What a sweetie!

Trailer Updates

Here are some before and after pictures of the main living space of the trailer. I think it looks fantabulous and the inside at least is starting to feel like a home! The outside still feels a little like you’re stepping onto a barren planet somewhere in outer space (due to the expanse of dirt and craters and rocks everywhere) but that too will come along in IT’S OWN timing :)

Pumpkin Belly and other Baby tidbits

The people at my work love to get into every holiday and have a good time. This time they decided to use me to help them get their jollies. My supervisor came out and told me to close my eyes and then taped this pumpkin face on my belly. So fun! I wore it all day.

Oh and lately my favorite thing to do is to really freak people out. It involves poor unsuspecting strangers and it goes like this. The other day I was out shopping for our two new chairs and the attached at my hip salesman made a friendly comment about me obviously expecting. To which I got a really offended look on my face and go, “Excuse me?” and then I watch his reaction with amusement for a short bit. His face dropped, his eyes got big, he didn’t know what to say and he started to stammer and try to back track and then I cracked a smile and said, “Just kidding, yeah this is our first.” HA! Love it.

Also, here’s a picture of the crib that I put together ALL by myself. I’m very proud of that. AND I just came from my midwife and she did another sonogram and we found out it is DEFINITELY a girl! AND I only gained one pound in the last 4weeks which I'm very excited about! So much to do! So little time left people, so little!

Livin' in the Country

I grew up in what I thought was the country. We had 107 acres and big old barn, chickens, goats, sheep, and horses. However, I’m learning that the town we lived in really wasn’t “country”.

I’m pretty sure I live in the REAL country now. How do I know? Well, let me give you some of the evidence. Goats roam free on peoples land. The local taxidermist (also a dear friend of ours) lives just down the road and you can often see dead animal skins laying out to dry. At night packs of whooping, howling coyotes drown out the sound of the peaceful crickets. The other day I followed a young, flannel-clad man for a few miles as he rode his 4-wheeler down the middle of the road. Also, interestingly enough he had a rifle strapped to the front of it and the only thing in season at the time was bear and crows. There is no great bear hunting in these parts that I’m aware of and I’m pretty sure you don’t shoot crows with rifles. And last but not least, after one trip to the nearest supermarket you will realize there is absolutely no need whatsoever to shower, change out of your PJ’s or throw on a bra when you go to do your shopping! (Calm down people, I didn't say I DON'T shower, change or wear a bra when I go to the store, I just feel no pressure to do so whatsoever!)

Adventures in Trailerland

Well, we’re back! In the area that is, not online yet so blogging may still be few and far between. We’re finally living in the trailer for good. But it’s been quite the journey getting here so I thought I’d just highlight a few rich moments.

We were staying here a couple nights a week so I didn’t have to commute over an hour to work and back. We stayed on an air mattress and the first week we did this, we had no electricity, which meant no water. I cut myself off from fluids at an early hour and prayed that I would not have to pee in the middle of the night, but alas I woke up with a killer leg cramp and my first thought was, “CRAP! Now I have to pee!” We now live the middle of a giant 3acre field and I wasn’t about the walk all the way to the edge of the woods and let the coyotes eat me. I also was not going to deal with getting the step ladder to climb down from the trailer (We didn’t have any steps yet either.) SOooo, I just hung on to the doorway for dear life and hung on out over the door jam and let ‘er flow.

Then there was the time that I woke up at 2am in shivering convulsions because it was freezing outside (We also have no heat). We only had two thin blankets and the cold air of the air mattress beneath us and nothing else in the house really to speak of. We piled on as many clothing layers as we possibly could without cutting off our circulation, gathered all the towels we had in the house and put them over the top of us and snuggled together for warmth to save our lives. That was a good nights rest!

We then got plumbing hooked up but still no electricity so we graduated to being able to go in the toilette but had to flush with buckets of water. Then there was the time that I was there in a rainstorm and water started leaking in our bedroom window with the strength and speed of a fire hose. And then when we finally go the electricity turned on and could examine things up close and personal we discovered that the toilette tank in one bathroom leaks so we can’t use it and the tub floor is cracked and not water tight in the other bathroom so we can’t use that. Oh and did I mention that we have no stove or heat because there is no power to either and we have to get an electrician to figure out why. I tell ya what. THIS is the life!

Here's a few pictures. A view from our living room window and the Living/Dining/Kit before picture. It looks so different now! More after pictures to come....