A whole lotta random stuff (about babies, bowels, nesting, a gripe, and the farm)

I had my 34-week midwife appointment yesterday. Everything is going well. I'm not thrilled with my weight-gain thus far (39 lbs!!), but my midwife isn't concerned at all. I actually gained about 50-55 lbs. with Ava's pregnancy (I hit 200 lbs. Eep!) but started that pregnancy out weighing 20 lbs. more than I started this one, so that makes me feel a little better. Plus I feel a whole lot healthier this time around and have been eating pretty healthy (other than indulging my sweet tooth now and then), so that's reassuring.
We heard the baby's heartbeat with the stethescope again, and, my midwife, Jody and Ava could all hear the heartbeat just by putting their ear up against my belly. That was pretty cool. I was wishing I could bend myself in half so I could hear it that way as well.
Our next midwife appointment is in two weeks and is actually the "home visit," where my midwife and the midwife she works with come out to our house to a.) make sure they can find it, b.) go over some logistics about the birth (like where are we setting up the birthing pool and make sure we have all of our birthing supplies) and c.) make sure everyone (who will be present at the birth) has an idea of what their role will be during the labor and birth. After that visit, it (baby boy's birth) could really happen at any time. It's overwhelming and very exciting to think about.

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Two more aquaintances/friends recently had healthy baby boys at planned homebirths. I'm anxiously awaiting their birth stories as inspiration for what lies ahead for me. :)

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Caution - TMI about bowel movements ahead.
Last night, out of the blue, I was hit with some sort of flu-bug. I had horrible diarrhea and felt like I was going to puke (though thankfully never did). In the meantime, my belly was all crampy and it was like one continuous Braxton-Hicks contraction. It was miserable. I started worrying about baby boy and thoughts of preterm labor went through my head. I decided that if it all kept up I'd definitely give my midwife a call, but thankfully the whole miserable experience only lasted about 2 1/2 hours and I was feeling ok by the time I went to bed. It was handy that my sis was already over (to watch "The Office" with me), because Jody was out and she kept Ava entertained while I was indisposed.

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I've been busy with a lot of nesting lately and have got the "kids' room" pretty well cleaned up and organized. I say "kids' room" in quotes because it's really just a room that houses their dresser, closet, some toys and books and a glider and ottoman. We got rid of the crib long ago after it was determined that it was something Ava was never going to use. And I recently sold off the crib bedding as well.
I think we are going to use that room to put the birthing pool for the birth so I want it to be especially nice and relaxing for me to labor in. I plan to buy some cheap frames and put up some more pictures on the walls. Now I just need to figure out which pictures.

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Why is it that so many clothes, blankets, etc. for little boys have to have sports stuff on them? I ended up buying a gender neutral receiving blanket for baby boy today rather than get a blue one with a soccer ball on it. I don't have anything against sports (I even enjoy a good hockey game), but I don't feel the need to bombard my son with sports images from the moment he is born. :oP So I got him a yellow blanket with an aligator, palm tree, bird and butterfly on it. I know for that matter I could just use the pink ones we have from Ava, but I guess I can't let go of gender stereotypes completely.

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Tomorrow we, along with a bunch of other families from our AP group, have a date at the farm to go on a hayride and pick vegetables, as well as visit the petting zoo. We went last year around this time too and had a great time. I think Ava will enjoy it even more this year. :) Last year we came home with a ton of veggies including 7 pie pumpkins. I don't know that we'll go as crazy w/ the veggie picking this year, but it still should be a lot of fun. :)

Hope you all have a nice weekend. :)