The Third Prayer

While we were in Piedmont, Frank moved our bed into our new room…Mary Rene’s old room which frankly, never was a room for her since she always slept with us.

(Nicole B-can you believe we are both living in that small room?  How did you do it when you were my roomie?)

Interestedly enough, the “Guess How Much I Love You” quote that was painted on the wall for Mary Rene is even more fitting now that it is our room.  I love me some Frank.

With our bed out of the room, we had to change up our bedtime routine a bit because know I don’t have a bed to nurse her on.  Frank did bring up the nursing chair, which I know I will be needing for Sweet Pea, so I sat down with Mary Rene there instead.  We cuddled for awhile and she asked for her “mil” (milk) but I was having a hard time getting her positioned right.  Oh how much your body changes with pregnancy.  By the time I got her positioned she didn’t want to nurse anymore.  Instead she wanted to stare at my breast.  I let that go on for a few minutes then covered up, gave her a hug and placed her in the crib.  Next Frank came in with Donna, did his thing and left.  And to our surprise, she went to sleep like before.  So the new room didn’t throw her off too much.  And not nursing was acceptable as well.  To surprise us even more, she slept the whole night in her crib!  A few times Frank heard her whine but she never cried hard enough for him to get up and grab her.  So for the first time in nearly two years, Frank and I had a room to ourselves.  Wow!

But back to the new room. 

On Sunday, after a few days away in Piedmont with my parents, Mary Rene came home to see her “new room.”  Now that our bed was out, there was room for her toddler bed and play area.  And oh was she excited to see her play area.

Her eyes got really wide and as she pointed at the ground and kept saying, “wow” and “oh.”  It was so cute.

I am absolutely falling in love with the new nursery for my two sweet girls.  I know they will be loving it as well.

Weight: 154

Baby Developments: Sweet Pea is approximately 16 inches long and weights approximately 3.3 pounds!  She can turn her head from side to side and her body is beginning to get fat under the skin.

Pregnancy Signs: Never sleeping is a pretty darn good sign.  I wish Sweet Pea would learn to levitate inside of me, for just one night, so I can sleep on my bad with no fear of crushing my organs.  Just one night is all I am asking for…right now.

Thoughts: Single digits!

One wall done; two more to go.

I decided to start with the striped wall because it would be the easiest.

Before

Step One:With the help of a level, I drew straight lines up and down the wall.  I did a four inch stripe, then two six inch stripes, and then went back to four to repeat the pattern.

Step Two: Asked Mary Rene to hand me the tape.

Step Three: Taped wall

Step Four: Paint wall

Step Five: Remove tape

Job Done!

oh I love it!  It looks so yummy.  And from far away, it looks perfect.  Get close and you can see some imperfections that I might fix someday.  But oh I love this wall.

Weight: 154

Baby Developments: Sweet Pea is approximately 15.7 inches long and approximately three pounds.  Her eyesight is continuing to develop and so our her little lungs.

Signs of pregnancy: By 8 p.m. when Mary Rene is in bed, I am completely beat.   The heat is really taking a beating on my pregnant body.  I do not remember the summer I was pregnant with Mary Rene being anywhere close to this hot…and it is only June.  Really,  how many 90 plus days have we had already in June? 

But honestly, it is not just the heat.  I guess it doesn’t help that I have already gained 24 pounds this pregnancy but I am also carrying around a 24 pound daughter a lot of the time.  Bending down to pick her up, holding her, putting her back down, lifting her back up.  So basically I am carrying an extra 50 pounds in weight compared to what I would normally be doing.  Yeah, that can make your day much harder.

Thoughts: Oh 30 weeks means, 10 more.  Holy moly it is getting close.

Weight: 152

Baby Developments: Sweet Pea is approximately 2 1/2 pounds and approxiately 15 inches long.  Her head is growing bigger to make room for that growing brain…one smart little chick!

Signs of pregnancy:Well, hmmm….the belly.  Pretty darn obvious that I’m pregnant.  Along with the fact that we are using twice as much toilet paper in this house lately.  Sweet Pea moves a lot and she is a strong little girl.  Sometimes her moments actually hurt and I have to turn my back up and in to move her.  She is a much stronger mover then Mary Rene was.

Thoughts/Concerns:  I think she is going to have a lot of hair.  I’ve had occasional heartburn/indigestion but I heard that has nothing to do with hair (it is a myth, apparently.)  I just keep thinking about a dark haired girl.  At least that is what I am picturing right now.

About two weeks ago I was thinking things through and made a big decision for our family.  And I’m very thankful that Frank agreed.  This is a huge, huge move for us but in the end it will make our lives much easier…and well, cleaner.

Currently Mary Rene’s room is 8 .5′  x 9.5′.  In her room is a dresser/changing table, car shaped toddler bed and a small section for her table and chairs where she colors.  Currently our room is 10′ x 12′ and we have a queen sized bed, crib, dresser and hope chest.  Since the girls will share a room we would have to find a way to squeeze the crib that is currently in our room into the 8 .5′  x 9.5′ room.  That means we would have to move her table and chairs out of the room and there would be no play area.  Which means more clutter in the front room.  Which means, constant mommy stress from seeing toys on the floor everywhere I look.  Which means…

We decided to switch rooms.  Frank and I only sleep in our room.  No tv, no computer, no book reading.  It has been, since day one, sleeping quarters only.  So for us, space is not an issue.  I measured our bed and dresser and it will fit in Mary Rene’s room with enough walking space to move around.  It will be a very tight fit but like I said, we don’t hang out in our room.

Next, I measured the crib, toddler bed, dresser/changing table and they will all easily fit in our room with an additional 5′ x 5′ space open for a play area.

So the decision was easy.  Give the girls the bigger room.  It will save so much space and keep clutter out of our front room.  Which makes mommy happy.

Over the weekend, I started the move:

1. Switched closets by moving Frank’s clothes (my clothes are in the dining room closet) and shoes to Mary Rene’s room and vice versus.  (I didn’t realize that our closet was bigger than Mary Rene’s closet so now there is more clothes room for two girls!)
2. Moved our dresser into Mary Rene’s room and vice versus.
3. Moved the crib and our bed to the other end of our room.  Now Mary Rene’s crib is in the exact spot it will be in when we make the big switch.  The plan is to slowly move our bed out of the room.

My goal is have our bed out of the new nursery by July 1st.  Mary Rene has been going to bed on her own for a couple weeks now but she occasionally wakes up in the middle of the night and I lift her into our bed.  So I have until July 1st to stop that.

Currently our bedroom has dark brown velvet full length curtains on two of the walls. All four walls are painted a light brown.  Not ideal for a nursery but I want to keep the curtains because (1) they were expensive and I just got them professionally cleaned and (2) it makes the room really dark which Mary Rene is used to sleeping in already.  So I decided to add pink designs to the walls for a brown and pink nursery.  And so, here is my plan:

1. Window wall with brown velvet curtains will remain completely brown  (the window is approximately 101″ long and basically takes up the whole wall.)
2. Wall with one small window with have random pink bubbles/circles.
3. Wall opposite of large brown velvet curtains will be pink and brown stripes.
4. Wall opposite of small window will have a pink tree with branches of hearts.

I have examples of each wall and hopefully will start working on them next week.  I think it is going to look really great for two special girls!

When I was pregnant with Mary Rene, everyone had their opinion on if I was carrying a boy or a girl.  Most people said boy but we were blessed with a beautiful girl.  Nobody ever said, “I hope you are having a _____.”  It was an uneducated guess to the way I was carrying.  Either way, people saw pregnancy as a blessing, regardless of gender.

Now that ‘I have my girl’ so many people say, “I hope you get your boy this time.”  That comment annoys me. 

And when I tell them we are having a girl they say, “I guess you won’t be stopping at two” or “looks like you guys will be having another baby to try for that boy.”

As if to say, that my family is only complete with a child of both genders.

As if to say, I don’t have to worry about having any more children if I have one of each.

As if to say, we would stop at two if we had one of each gender.

As if to say, we won’t be happy until we get that boy.

As if to say, this girl doesn’t matter.

Those comments frustrate me so much.  It really is no one’s business how many children we decide to have but people make it their business when it comes to gender.  If we were to have a third child, and she would be a girl, then people would assume we would have a fourth so we could get that “boy.”  But if we got that boy then we would be done!  And to try for another, would be just crazy because we already had what we wanted.

I don’t know how many children we will have because honestly, we are leaving it up to God.  But it hasn’t crossed my mind that we will have another to try for a boy.  A boy won’t make me feel complete.  I already feel complete with what I have, a wonderful, loving husband, a beautiful daughter and another blessing of a girl on the way.  Gender doesn’t complete me.

There is this beautiful family at church who had five boys and they were expecting their sixth.  When the baby was born, all the family members wore pink shirts as a way to show everyone that she was a girl!  I remember watching the mom interact with people and hearing comments like, “oh I guess you are done now” or “you finally got what you wanted.”  As if to say that the boys before the daughter were not what she wanted.

She didn’t stop at six and was pregnant with number seven last time I saw her.  I guess she is showing everyone that gender doesn’t matter to her either.

That’s the shirt I sewed months ago!

Weight: 150

Baby Development:  Sweet Pea weighs approximately 2.25 pounds and is approximately 14.8 inches long.  She can blink her eyes and might even be able to see light that filters through the womb (who knew?) 

Pregnancy Signs: Tender, very tender, left nipple which will be explained Tuesday.  All I can say is OUCH.

Concerns/Thoughts: I’m really starting to become more concerned about how often she is moving since that last scare at the doctor’s office.  Saturday I didn’t feel her move much at all but I was on my feet nearly all day and didn’t have time to rest, be still and feel.  Finally, once Mary Rene was in bed I was able to sit and focus on Sweet Pea and I felt her moving.

When we found out we were having another girl I initially thought we wouldn’t have much to do for preparation.  Since Sweet Pea will be born the same season as Mary Rene we already have baby clothes.  The only minor details, so I thought, I would have to take care of were:

1. Stock up on disposable diapers to use first month (Complete.  I already have enough thanks to weeks worth of $3 Huggies coupons.)
2. Purchase mattress for second bed (Completed today.)
3. Purchase more cloth diapers (Still haven’t done this but plan on buying about six new diapers for Sweet Pea.)

That was my “baby to do” list and that’s what it has been since day one until about a week ago. 

But a week ago came and well a lot has happened in my head since then.  I started to look around the house and realized that we were becoming very cluttered with the three of us.  Adding a fourth to the mix would only make it worse.  I want to stay in our small, modest home for as long as we can because we have a very low mortgage which allows me to work part-time.  And well, working part-time is really important to us so our daughters can primarily be raised by me and not somebody else.  So we have to make this house work.

Which led me to add several items to my “baby to do” list:

2.  Put away toys that are no longer used and taking up space and store downstairs (Completed.)

3.  Buy bookcase to store Mary Rene and our books in front room to clear up space (Complete and I must say it saves so much room.  Thank you craigslist.  I really wish I would have taken before and after pictures to show the huge difference.)

4.  Take Mary Rene’s shoes off middle shelf in closet, move to floor (Complete.)

5.  Use middle shelf in closet to store Mary Rene’s socks, tights, bloomers, bath towels and wash clothes (Complete and now I am making use out of the cute wicker baskets I got as baby shower gifts two years ago!)

6.  Move all Mary Rene’s hair accessories to the hallway linen closet (Complete.  And while I was there I took the opportunity to clean the linen closet.  Much needed.)

7.  Use empty drawers (two and a half) where Mary Rene’s socks, tights, bloomers, bath towels, wash clothes and hair accessories were for Sweet Pea’s clothes.

I got to that last step and honestly wasn’t planning on filling Sweet Pea’s drawers until the due date got closer.  But Thursday night, Frank’s friend called and said he wanted to drop off six bags of girl clothes that his girlfriend wanted to give us.  Later that night I sorted all six bags of clothes by size.

No kidding.  It felt like Christmas and yes, very overwhelming.  This wonderful girl, whom I’m never met, was so generous and we are forever grateful.  Thank you Val!  There were clothes ranging in size from newborn to 4T.  I took the 3T and 4T clothes and packed them downstairs with Mary Rene’s other 3T and 4T clothes from Frank’s cousin (Mary Rene has so many clothes!)  I took all the 2T clothes downstairs to be washed and ended up hanging them up in Mary Rene’s closet since she is starting to wear that size. 

 The newborn clothes I decided to wash and put in those new empty drawings in Mary Rene’s dresser.  There wasn’t a whole lot of newborn outfits but I do remember that Mary Rene was only in that size for about two weeks before we switched to 0-3 months.  Which then reminded me that I needed to get the 0-3 months clothes ready so I won’t be scrambled those first few weeks.  So new task were added to my list:

3.   Buy Dreft.

4.   Sort through Mary Rene’s newborn and 0-3 month clothes that are downstairs.

5.   Put gender neutral clothes to the side to give to friend who is having a baby boy.

6.   Take girl clothes, wash and put upstairs in empty drawers.

My task list keeps getting longer and I am down to T minus three months.  And honestly, the steps above are easy compared to the other items I have added to my list:

7.  Finish Sweet Pea’s scrapbook (I need to do about eight more pages-holidays, etc.)

8.   Fill out as much of Sweet Pea’s baby book as I can (when I first heard heartbeat and preliminary stuff like that.)

9.   Buy pink paint and start painting new nursery

What?  Did you read that last one?  Wait until you hear about this one.

Well, I must have jinxed myself by stating in the comment section of my last ultrasound that I wouldn’t be getting another one.  Because I did but I will now explain. 

I was sitting in the room waiting for the doctor to come in and had my hands on my belly as I felt Sweet Pea moving along.  It felt like she was doing flips because she was really active.  Turns out that she was doing flips and she is now laying sideways!

Dr. Gosser came in the room and I took my hands off my belly to start our appointment.  We chatted for a few minutes and then he started the appointment by asking me the same ol’ questions about my pregnancy.  I then hopped up on the table so he could hear the heartbeat.  At first all I could hear was my heartbeat and he moved the wand a bit here and there but kept it over my heartbeat.  He had the wand over my belly for much longer than usual so I knew something was wrong.  He calmly said, “let’s go down the hall and check the level of amniotic fluid.”  As we walked down the hall I asked if the heartbeat I heard was really hers and he said yes.  For those that don’t know, an unborn baby’s heart rate is nearly double of the mom’s heart rate.  I had been sitting in the waiting room for awhile so my heart rate would have slowed down while the baby’s rate would have stayed at a good fast pace, about 130 beats.  So I quickly figured out his concerns because Sweet Pea’s heart rate had really, really dropped.

I hopped up on the table and he prepped my belly for the ultrasound.  He was able to quickly find the heart and from the screen I could tell that it was beating normal.  I mentioned that it looked pretty fast and he agreed that it looks good.  He was able to count the beats and it was normal, approximately 130 beats.  He then checked the fluid around the baby and everything looked okay.  Gosh that was so scary.

He told me to continue to monitor her movement and if I noticed anything unusual to call his office.  He thinks that when he went to listen to the baby’s heart, she must have pulled on the umbilical cord at that very moment which caused her to ‘blackout’ briefly.  My baby girl is getting herself high!

This little Sweet Pea had her momma scared yesterday but I’m so glad everything is okay.  Gosh I hope she doesn’t continue to do these little tricks to me because she nearly made my heart stop beating!