operation baby expeller: plan of attack

As of yesterday, Avery and I were officially full term baby and mama. This may sound like just another tired pregnant woman complaining but I'm ready for this kid to get out of me. As far as discomfort goes, it's not too bad, that isn't the problem (although I do have itchy skin ALL OVER MY BODY). My swelling legs, ankles and feet are a bit disconcerting, but manageable. I'm mostly just really excited to meet our little lady - and wanting to avoid induction at all costs.

With the gestational diabetes (under control ), swelling, and a borderline high blood pressure yesterday, I am a bit concerned about what more time being pregnant means for our birth plan. I'm already looking at being pumped with antibiotics during labor ( 1 in 3 women are positive for group b streptococcus...and wouldn't you know it? I'm one of them!). I really want to try to have this birth go as naturally as possible - and I know things don't always go according to plan, but since when is having a goal a crime?

I also realize the importance of baby cooking until she's good and ready to come out and meet the world. My mommy intuition tells me that she's ready though. I feel as though I wouldn't feel as ready as I am unless I had some inner peace of mind that she is as ready as I am. This may sound like complete BS to you, but I feel that there is something to be said for the connection between mama and the baby in her belly (we ARE literally connected).

So in an effort to get this kid outta me in a safe, natural way before the docs decide to shoot me up with pitocin, I've compiled a plan of attack:

1. Walking - I'm starting to walk more while at work (even though my ankles are swollen) and even taking the stairs up to my office (at a very slow pace, of course). I also have a girl date coming up tomorrow to walk around the mall.
2. Acidophilus probiotics - with my GBS diagnosis and impending round of antibiotics, I want to make sure I don't get a yeast infection or thrush after delivery (yeast infection after delivery would be absolutely miserable for one, and secondly, thrush would be painful and possibly a hinderance to my breastfeeding goals).
3. Evening primrose oil capsules - these will not start labor as is commonly thought, but will help to soften my cervix and get it ready to dilate. I will be taking them both orally and vaginally (to get more direct benefit). I've read that some women take these and have super easy labor with minimal to no tearing - if that isn't a good enough reason to try this, I don't know what is.
4. Red raspberry leaf tea - just drinking this can help prepare my uterus and cervix for labor.
5. A drive down a bumpy road - Seth is really excited about this one and is probably hoping to take my mom's Jeep for an off-roading adventure.
6. Pedicure - getting one tomorrow mostly because I want cute toes and someone to rub my feet. But if they can press the right spots and help labor start, I'm not complaining!

a chill project

Our refrigerator is weird. And disorganized. I mean, the outside is. The inside is alright. Anyway, if you've been to our house, you know that it's small and that our refrigerator makes a wall for our living room. Ugh. I don't have a picture, although I really should have taken one so that if you haven't been over, you would know what I mean. It's ugg. I hate it. And I've refused to utilize the living room side of the fridge for magnets and other stuff, so the kitchen side of the fridge gets a bit overcrowded and well, ugly.

Since my legs have been swelling up every day of my life (since about 2 weeks ago), I've become bored with "taking it easy" so I decided to organize the side of my fridge. I know - not a big project, but it gave me something to do last Friday night when I was home alone.

Unfortunately, I don't have a before picture of the mess that was the side of my refrigerator, but just imagine a bunch of stuff stuck to it and a calendar that was stuck on November 2012. Yeah.

What I came up with instead includes: an updated calendar, designated places for my grocery list, coupons and weekly meal plan, and a cute set up with clothes pins and string for photos that we like to keep in view.

I'm hoping that once Avery is here, we can take a trip to the Target dollar bins and find some cute magnetic organizers to make this look a bit more pulled together, but until then this is what we have:

99 problems but an itch ain't one

I'm really excited about this blog post title. Like, unnecessarily excited...especially because it isn't true.

Most of you know that I went from having a glorious pregnancy to having it all go in the shitter when I hit the third trimester: gestational diabetes (wha??), a high blood pressure/swelling scare (c'mon now), and now a rash (ew). Since this rash is the newest addition to my list of "pregnancy ailments that no one thought Heather would get," I'll talk about that.

Right now I'm in the bath. Yes, I am blogging naked and no, I don't care. I will care, however, if I drop my new iPhone 5 in the water because I will be sad (and Seth will most likely strangle me). You wanna know why I'm blogging in the bath? Well, I don't really have a great reason for that other than I feel like it. I'm taking a bath with ACV. Yep, a vinegar bath. Sounds gross. Probably smells gross too, but since I have a nasty cold the scent isn't a bother because I can't breathe anyway.

Did you know that apple cider vinegar is like, a hippy's BFF (right up there with coconut oil)? It is seriously so good for you. I've read that you should drink some every day and you will live to be 956 years old (that's not true, I made that up - but it's hella good for you). I recently made up my cold concoction (ACV, cayenne, honey, water) and slurped some down to soothe my achy throat...it worked. Now, I'm drenching my whole body in the stuff (just the ACV, not the other stuff - ouch, cayenne amiright, ladies?).

Back to my rash (I know - you were dying to hear about it). It's on my belly, under my belly button...and I'm pretty sure it's spread to my hips, ankles and maybe my arms (I have an itch there now). It's just little red bumps but itches like a mofo!! I searched the Internet for a natural, hippie-mama way to alleviate some of the annoying itch and came up with this:

Warm/hot bath
1 cup apple cider vinegar (I always use the organic, unfiltered kind)

Soak your bod for at least 20 minutes.

As I'm relaxing here, I've noticed that its actually cleaning my tub some (definite plus) and that it turns the water a little brown (the ACV, not the junk from my tub). Also, it kinda tingles my skin (me likey).

Although I'm missing my eucalyptus bath right now, I'm thinking that maybe my over use of that stuff could be contributing to my rash - or I could just have another crazy preggo ailment like PUPPPS. Good gawd, lets hope not (I'm already seeing my doctors twice a week. If I get anything else they will have me moving in with one of them).

So lets hope the title of my post rings true after my bath. Cuz I already gots me 99 problems...and an itch IS one (for now).

slack attack

Ok, I know I've been slacking on my posts lately - I haven't been taking any photos because everything just feels halfway done and I don't want to share our half-assed jobs. So sue me.

After the shower, there was an influx of baby crap that has (mostly) been put away. There's also my hospital bag that is packed (halfway). Not to mention Avery's cloth diaper stash which we (almost) have completed. See? Too many done-but-not-quite-done projects lingering around our house, none of which are share-worthy.

There are a few posts that I haven't done...out of pure laziness. Ugh. I mean, you would think that with all my sitting around due to swollen ankles would result in some heavy blogging, but no. I don't work like that. I either do nothing at all or everything all at once. It's a vicious lifestyle, I tell ya.

So here's what you can (maybe) expect in the upcoming weeks (as far as blog posts go):

The baby shower - all the details and stuff

A DIY tutorial of one of the shower decorations

An update on Avery's finished nursery

Newborn cloth diaper stash building 101 (and a peek into the bigger, badder cloth diapers that we are starting to stock up on)

Packing a hospital bag for delivery

Maybe some food related posts - I realize that I haven't posted any food stuffs in AGES...that needs to be fixed.

I'm sure there are many other posts that need to be added to this list...I'll get to those (hopefully).

In the meantime, bear with me - I've just realized that my kid can decide to come out at any moment so I need to work extra hard at work (gasp! she does actual work?!?) to get my shit done before that happens [commence mini freak-out].

homemade natural spa night

Last Friday night I decided that I wanted to treat myself to a little spa night. You see, my baby shower was on Saturday and my mom had gotten her hair and nails done and my sister had her hair done...and I didn't get any upgrades (poor me...literally). So I decided that some free, homemade spa stuffs was right up my poor ass's alley.

First, I whipped up a facial mask that was supposed to help clear up blemishes (per a random Pinterest pin). The only ingredients were honey and oatmeal - yum! I added 2 tablespoons of oats to 2 tablespoons of honey, mixed it together, and slathered that shit on my face. It was really hard to not want to eat what was on my face - also, the honey that was above my top lip kept melting and dripping from my lip into my mouth. It was delicious. I'm not sure if this mask actually did anything (it did make my face a little tingly and reddish looking after - in a good way - so it must've done something) but it was fun to make myself and feel like I was luxuriously relaxing in a spa.

Second, I need a hair cut...badly. Like, I haven't had my hair cut since right after my wedding. And that was in 2011. Yes, you read that right. So, needless to say, I have more dead ends than a cul-de-sac in a zombie apocalypse.

Did you know that coconut oil is the solution to everything? Well it is. So I put some in my hair. Too much actually, oops. I melted about 3 tablespoons when I really needed about one and a half. I then spread the melted oil throughout my dry hair and combed it to make sure it worked all the way through, from root to tip. I slept that night with my oiled hair in a bun on top of my head...a shower cap would probably be a good idea on this situation, but I just made sure I washed my pillow case after. The next morning, I rinsed my hair really well and washed it then dried it. My hair felt fabulous after and I noticed that some dead ends had healed! I had a bit of an oily hair issue, not bad enough for others to notice, but I noticed. I would recommend doing this treatment no more than one time a month.

(I actually did my hair first then spread the mask on my face, I have no clue why I decided to write this in the order that I did. Ignore it, please)

After all that prepping, I took a long bath with lavender Epsom salts, which I could probably consider an addiction now. I'm taking like 2-4 baths a week. It's just so relaxing and smells so good that I can't help it. Look, I know that there is this rumor out there that pregnant women aren't supposed to take Epsom salt baths, but its just not true. Soaking in salts can help decrease pain and swelling and totally relax the body making sleep easier. There is magnesium in Epsom salts which pregnant bodies actually need more of, so absorbing it through soaking in water is a-ok. The warnings are for the ingestion of these salts - you can buy a saline solution that is used as a laxative and can cause side effects that could actually induce labor - you don't want that, especially if you aren't full term yet. If you don't believe me, I got my information here: http://www.livestrong.com/article/135147-epsom-salt-pregnancy/

I totally recommend treating yourself to a spa night every once in a while (and take pictures of yourself smiling creepily with oily hair and shit on your face, it's fun I swear). I probably treat myself too often, but hey, at least I'm not spending all my money on the real thing (although I really wish I was).

Grace Marie is 3 months old

Little Gracie Watry turned 3 months old a couple of weeks ago, and her mommy was nice enough to let me test out my fancy camera on her bundle of joy!

I am by no means a professional photographer, I'm barely an amateur. Right now, I'm just getting to know my camera...and loving it!

Grace was such a good model and has grown so much! And those eyes...oh my! What a pretty little lady!

(Oh, and must say that her big brother Oscar is pretty photogenic as well haha)

Here are some of her photos from the day:

baby shower preview

I can't believe that its already March, which means 2 things: the baby shower is tomorrow and Seth and I will be parents NEXT MONTH.

Next month. As in April. As in our baby is due in April.

Oh. My. Gawd.

But yeah, our shower is tomorrow. I've been helping my mom plan it for a few months now. I know, I know - I'm not really supposed to be planning my own shower, but there is just something about creating really awesome crafts, invitations, and decorations that gets me all giddy and I can't help myself - so I, um, pretty much took over all creative aspects of the shower. Oops.

Last weekend I spent hours at my parents house cutting, gluing, wrapping and writing, you know, creating all the little details for the shower. I'm so excited to share this sneak peek of what I've been working on...but I'm even more excited to take photos of the finished product (the decorated venue) with my fancy camera and share them in a proper post later!

Here's the preview, enjoy!