Maternity Pictures

Over the weekend, one of my good friends on Base took some maternity pictures for us.  I didn't take maternity pictures while pregnant with Evie and regret it.  I somehow lost all my belly bump pictures from that time and have nothing to look back on to remember those months.  Here are a few of my favorite shots from the session!

Photo Goofiness

Every once in awhile, Evie and I will do a little photo shoot of the two of us.  It usually includes a couple nice, normal shots.  And then the silliness comes out.  I figured we needed to do one last one with just the two of us before Juliet is born.  Enjoy :)

See, we can do normal

Kisses for Baby Sister

Goofy

Our version of the "duck face"

Ahhhh!

Evie's kisses are sometimes slightly abusive

Turn, Baby, Turn!

The end is near!

I'm a couple days shy of 37 weeks. and I'm so happy every time I think about it.  No matter what, I will be a mother of two within the month!  I'm elated and scared out of my mind at the same time.  That's normal, right?  I'm really only nervous for the adjustment part though.  We've been a family of three for almost five years.  It's going to be hard on everyone involved to adjust to a new family member.  Everything else--even the poopy diapers and impossibly long nights--is actually a bit of a thrill.  I am so ready to have a newborn in the house again.

Everything pregnancy-wise is still going well.  My body is slowly starting to progress, which I am thankful for.  I want my body to have a head start on dilating, etc so when labor finally happens, it hopefully won't be one million hours long.  I'm managing all the usual pregnancy complaints pretty well.  I won't miss the swollen feet or the inability to move because of this huge basketball stuffed under my shirt, but I'm trying to cherish these last moments of pregnancy.  I'm never going to be pregnant again, and it's all a little bittersweet. 

I received the best compliment ever while shopping at the Commissary yesterday.  A lady shopping behind me stopped to tell me she couldn't even tell I was pregnant until I turned to the side, and the belly was revealed.  With only a few weeks of my pregnancy to go, I find that to be quite a compliment.  I'm so thankful I'm carrying this pregnancy so well--hopefully that means the pounds will just melt off afterwards!

36 Week Picture

The one complaint I have pregnancy-wise is that Juliet is breech!  It really is just my luck.  The entire pregnancy up until about 31 weeks, she was always nestled very low in my pelvis.  I rarely felt movement above my belly button, and her hiccups were always extremely low.  When I hit 31 weeks, she decided torturing Mommy would be super fun.  She'll be head down for about seven to ten days, and then flip to breech.  She tends to stay in that position for about a day, and is usually extremely active during that period.  And then she flips back to head down.  Because I am carrying so compactly and the placement of her hiccups are so discernible, it is very easy for me to tell her position.

At my appointment last week, I mentioned to my doctor that I was pretty sure she had turned to breech the day before.  She sent me for an ultrasound for confirmation, and low and behold, Juliet's butt was nestled right down in my pelvis!  We talked about my options, and were planning on scheduling a procedure where the doctor manually tries to turn the baby using external manipulation for this week.   And then that night, like I figured she would, Juliet turned back to head down.  Disaster evaded...or so we thought.

Of course the little stinker stayed in the right position until Tuesday morning.  I woke up to hiccups right at my ribcage, and my doctor appointment the next morning confirmed it.  She's breech again!  Obviously she has enough room to move around yet, but she's been in this position for a few days now--the longest she's stayed breech.  I have the external version appointment set for next week, but really hope she turns on her own.  I've been trying all the "tricks" to get her to move--a cold pack to make her mad, music and a flashlight to catch her attention, pelvic tilts and sticking my booty up in the air to shift her center of gravity. 

Obviously. I'll try anything that has even an inkling of working because I will do anything in my power to avoid a c-section! I know it's not the end of the world if that's the route I end up having to take, but it won't be an option I'll take lightly.  I want what's best for the health of Juliet and myself, but I don't necessarily believe having a c-section is the best thing for our health in every situation. Thankfully my doctor is willing to try to manually move her up until my water breaks so we aren't even discussing a scheduled c-section.

So keep your fingers crossed that she turns to head down, and stays!

Pink & Grey Nursery Reveal

Before we knew if Baby 2.0 was a boy or girl, I started planning the nursery.  By the time of the "big reveal" ultrasound, I had a basic plan for the nursery--one for girl, one for boy.  The ink had barely dried on the ultrasound pictures before I started making lists and gathering supplies to make my vision of Juliet's nursery a reality.

For the past fifteen week or so, Michael and I have been hard at work getting our little projects done.  He was in charge of painting anything that needed painting, and I was in charge of pretty much everything else.  After all, it was my vision.  Not to mention I loved it!

So here it is.  Juliet's pink and grey nursery in all it's glory. 

Don't you just love the stripe?

Used the bones of Evie's old mobile & attached homemade felt creations to add a unique flair

Felt mobile up close

Chevron fabric over a canvas frame, with a handmade felt flower to add a pop

Love the lamp--a gem found at Hobby Lobby

My first attempt at making my own printables turned out well

Handmade "boppy".  A tad smaller than the original, but don't you just love the fabric?

Michael painted the crib & I made both the crib skirt & crib sheet

Cloth diaper storage

And there you have it!  We are very pleased with the end result, and I can't wait to bring Juliet home to it.  It's probably my favorite room in the house!  It's a very small space with an even smaller closet, but I think I did my vision justice. I'm a little sick of my sewing machine at the moment though so I'm glad it's finally done!

The Final Stretch

I'm here for my monthly update!  Ha, whoops.  This blogging thing doesn't seem to be top of my list these days.  Maybe when Juliet finally makes her arrival, I'll be bursting to share every single one of her milestones with all of you, and I'll overwhelm you with posts.  More likely I'll be staring off into space like a zombie for a few months, and I'll be lucky if I can remember to take a shower, let alone blog often.

I'm a few days into my 33rd week of pregnancy, and getting very anxious to meet little lady.  Apparently, Juliet is just as excited to meet us because she put me through my first round of preterm labor over the weekend.  Thankfully it stopped on it's own, but not before keeping me up half of the night.  They don't try to stop labor once you hit 34 weeks so since I'm so close to that magic number, my doctor didn't even have me go into Labor & Delivery because the contractions were still 10 minutes apart.  Even though we're excited for her to arrive, that night made us nervous enough to be content with her waiting it out at least another month.

Other than that, things have been going well.  We finally finished up her nursery, and I will post a nursery reveal very soon.  I love how it turned out!  And I'm really proud that Michael and I did so much of it ourselves.  The only things that weren't repurrposed or homemade were things that would have been pretty difficult to do ourselves--such as making the lamp or cube organizer.

We have everything else ready for Juliet's arrival as well.  All we need is her.  I'm glad we got everything taken care of in case she comes early, but now I have to scramble for things to keep me occupied.  Maybe I'll get a lot of Christmas presents taken care of so I don't have to worry about making or buying anything those first few weeks after her birth.

I'm feeling pretty good for being 33 weeks pregnant.  My back pain is barely a nuisance anymore, and all the regular pregnancy symptoms are pretty minor at the moment.  My biggest complaint is not being able to move as easily or roll over without a concentrated effort.  I'm up almost every hour or two at night because I either need to pee (AGAIN!) or the side I'm currently sleeping on is going numb, and I need to heave myself over to the other side.  I'm ready for pregnancy to be over, but mostly just because I'm ready to meet my newest little princess.

I'll leave you with my latest belly picture, and a promise to be back very soon with the nursery reveal!