Still waiting

So even though I'm not officially due until Tuesday, I've been told for more than a week now that I could go into labor at any moment. And trust you me we have tried everything (except castor oil, because yuck. Seriously, yuck) to get this baby to show herself. Boating didn't do it, Jeeping didn't do it, and no amount of exercise, lifting, or bouncing on a pilates ball has done a thing.

I had a bit of a panic attack yesterday when my contractions subsided and I felt like baby wasn't moving. Poor Nic had to come home and take me to the doctor who then sent me to the hospital for a stress test. Everything is fine and of course after it was all said and done baby decided to start dancing on my ribs again. I think she may be a little bit of a punk.

The nursery isn't quite finished, although Nic did take a day off to tackle the list of projects I had for him. I'm gonna shoot for getting it done this weekend, so there will be pictures to come. But because I like posts with pictures, here are some nesting projects that I have actually completed (thanks to Siouxzy for the adorable fabric):

Rag quilt
Shoes

Hooded towels

On a side note: We went to Willard Bay last Saturday and the night before I had dreams where I was hysterical because I couldn't fit into any of my swimsuits or lake clothes. When I woke up and of course nothing fit (hello, nine months prego), I ended up wearing a pair of Nic's swim trunks and an over-sized SPF shirt. (I'll be damned if I'm going to buy a maternity swimsuit at this point to wear once or twice. No thank you.) I didn't cry, but I can't say it was one of my proudest moments--hence no pictures of me. We had an excellent day though and hope that baby Norah learns to love the water as much as her dad. She does already have her own life jacket after all.

38 weeks

Ho-lee-crap. That belly is attached to my body. AND it is holding a fully developed child. My child. AND I still have two weeks to go. Oh how I wish there was a reliable way to speed this process along; I really would like to meet this person who is constantly kicking me in the ribs. Baby Norah, it's time to show yourself!

Showered

My two most favoritest Wilcox women threw me an amazing baby shower over the weekend. My mom and Jessica really outdid themselves...I don't know how I got lucky enough to have all these fabulous people in my life.

Unfortunately, my dad was out of town, so this shower didn't get the photo documentation it deserved. You'll have to put up with the few snapshots that I gathered.

First Jess:

Even with a husband out of the country and a million other things going on she went out of her way to plan and host a baby shower for her sister-in-law. That's love I tell you.

And my wonderful mom:

As if she doesn't have enough to do with two kids at home, a job, and Relief Society President duties. She always goes above and beyond for me and I can't say thank you enough.

Check out the deliciousness we enjoyed:

And how adorable are these cupcakes? They even hand sewed the birds!

Plus, cute party favors for everyone to take home.

Me and baby thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Here I am at 34 weeks and counting...

Oh, and the shower was coed. Those were some brave men to enter the world of a baby shower. It was good to have Nic there to help open gifts and put stuff together--although the stroller is still in pieces in the box.

Thanks again to my mom and Jessica for everything. And thanks to everyone for coming out to support our family.

Celebrating Norah

May Day was extra special for me this year. Lovely Alissa and her beautiful baby came all the way from California to help celebrate baby Norah.

I should preface this by saying that Alissa is no amateur: this lady is the best party planner you will ever meet--no exaggeration. From the handpicked menu to the adorable pinwheel party favors, I feel more than confident saying that we were all blown away by how much work she put into all the glorious details. (So much so that I'm running out of adjectives to accurately capture the moment.)

Check out our digs at the Oasis Cafe. Pretty fancy, huh?

And this is what I mean about the little details: All my fantastic guests signed a hand-embroidered fabric hoop welcoming Norah in to the world.

Cute party favors brought a little bit of California's warm weather to a snowy Utah day.

I won't say how many cupcakes I ended up eating, but these could be part of the reason I've started to get more and more comments on the size of my belly.

Thanks to the generosity of family and friends, baby Norah is going to be quite spoiled. She got so many cute things!

My mom is already watching out for her first grandchild. Sorry Moxie and Sup.

And there's the belly. I don't know how it can get any bigger, but with seven weeks to go I'm sure baby will make more room for herself.

Thank you to everyone who came to support me and baby. Thank you Dad for braving all the women and baby talk to take pictures. And THANK YOU Alissa for the whole package. I'm lucky to have such an incredible friend.

Filling up fast

Alissa was in town this weekend and threw me and baby Norah an incredible baby shower. My dad kindly documented the whole thing, so there will be a full post with many wonderful photos to come. I can't believe how generous all the lovely people in my life are. Thank you! Just take a look at this little girl's closet. She's amassing quite the wardrobe.

Starting the nursery

I've been shopping for baby Norah for months now, but I've actually made very few purchases. I've also been planning her nursery ever since we found out the gender, but again I've made very little progress. I have no less than one million links to nursery ideas and rooms that I love sitting in my Google account; I just can't seem to pull anything together.

However, I am THRILLED with the few items I do have. I bought this print on etsy.com. I'm not usually a fan of little cutsie sayings on the wall, but how sweet is this? It's hanging on the wall by the door--the first thing to actually have a permanent place and the first thing you see when you walk into the room.
And since I decided that I like me a subtle bird theme, I got this print that I've been eying for a while. Best of all, I have these incredible stitcheries from Alissa. The smaller one is titled "Multiply and Replenish." Don't the paisleys remind you of little cells dividing into a new, fabulous baby Norah? The larger one is called "Take off Your Top," which according to Alissa is how I got myself into this predicament in the first place.

I'm finding that I don't like a lot of really babyish stuff, so I'm choosing items that I would like to have in my house with or without a little girl. Plus, it's a real bonus when the items have special meaning--like the stitcheries.

Not wanting to spend a lot of money, I'm having Nic refinish a piece of furniture we already have and make it into a changing table. Then, he gets to refinish an existing dresser as well. I don't think he knows this yet, but I'm also having him build some sort of shelves on one of the walls (and in the closet too, sorry). Thanks for being so handy Nic!

Debbie has volunteered to make a crib set, I just need to settle on what fabric to use. Oh, and I bought a rocker on KSL that I need to recover. So I guess I have more than I thought; it's just all halfway done or not even started. Three months seems like forever when I think of my growing belly, but when it comes to finishing furniture I feel like I don't have enough time.

Shopping always makes me feel better

After having an organ removed on a Friday, Nic went back to work the next Monday. And to all those who have told me that I should have made him stay home, I say next time you try to reason with him. At least he didn't drive himself. I consider that a victory.

It's hard to say if he's been feeling better; he's still all tired and messed up from the abdomen cutting and drugs and trying to do too much. He planned to work this Saturday, but after working all day Friday and making some of his stitches bleed, he decided on his very own that it really would be best if he take it easy. He's still impossible to keep at the house though; so he got to tag along with me for the weekend and even got to go shopping at Baby Gap.

Oh, Baby Gap. That's a whole lot a darling in one place. I don't think it helped Nic feel much better, but I sure felt awesome about my purchases. We're buying baby clothes--for a baby.


We're now six months into this pregnancy thing and doing pretty well. Lately, we've just been in survival mode because of all Nic's stuff. I like to remind him how unfair it is that I'm pregnant and he is still feeling worse than me. Isn't it supposed to be my turn? We've both tried to keep up with everyone, but it's been hard...so sorry for all the short visits and the lack of returned phone calls. We're doing the best we can.

Baby Norah is doing great. She's just chillin out and kicking the hell out of my insides. Whenever she bothers me really badly, I poke and pat right back at her. That usually makes her stop for a while. I figure that two can play at this game.

Procedures

It's been a stressful couple of weeks at our house. I'm doing my best to grow a person and Nic is doing his best to figure out what in the world is wrong with his insides. So basically neither of us is all too chipper.

Nic had two procedures last week: one involving a camera going down his throat and up his butt (Did they meet in the middle?), and another involving laying on a table for a couple of hours while some sort of radiation went through his body to show how his organs were functioning. I wasn't there for the radiation thing, but was there when he came out of the anesthesia after his colonoscopy. If you've seen this video then you have a pretty good idea about what he's like post-op. He doesn't remember much of that day.

We haven't gotten results from the first procedure, but the radiation thing showed that his gallbladder isn't functioning properly and is most likely what is making him sick. His doctor and a surgeon are supposed to call him sometime today to discuss his options. So it looks like there could be a fun surgery in the near future. The best thing to do with Nic when he's on pain pills after surgery? Watch a scary movie. Well, not so much watch the movie as watch Nic watch the movie. It makes for a good time.

I've got a little less than four months of this pregnancy thing to go. I was all weirded out by the thought of feeling the baby move, but then it happened and it wasn't all that strange--until I could see movement on the outside! That is weird. I don't know what all else I should say about this whole deal other than we're excited for the end result. Yay for baby Norah!

Baby Norah!

There it is: Proof that Baby Norah is a girl! Or at least that's what our doctor told us this morning; I guess we'll just have to take his word for it because really, that doesn't look like anything to me, boy or girl.

I have my 20 week appointment at the hospital next Monday where apparently I'll be subjected to all sorts of poking and prodding and will have a better ultrasound--which will hopefully confirm baby's gender beyond an 80 percent chance. But according to my doctor today: "That's either a girl...or a boy with a really embarrassing pee-pee."

It's nice to finally have some info on this thing growing inside of me. I still haven't felt her moving around in there yet, but many of you know that I'm not exactly dying to feel something kicking. in. my. insides. Kinda weirds me out still, I'm not going to lie.

Other fun facts:

• I thought I was over the nausea until I had to leave work early and didn't quite make it home before I had to pull off the road and throw up. So now I've hurled at work, home, and on the side of the road. Maybe next will be the grocery store?
• I haven't had anymore breakdowns and have generally been quite happy. Nic really did throw away that book I was reading.
  
• Not so fun to find out was that I've gained seven pounds over the last month. I wasn't too concerned until my doctor told me to try to lay off the carbs. Nice. I don't think you can ever win; at my appointment in January I had lost three pounds and that wasn't so great either.
  
• Nic claims to not have a gender preference and is excited about having a girl; I am excited to go shopping!

Not recommended reading

Pregnancy breakdown No. 1 has come and gone and I blame a book. Truthfully, the most surprising thing about my little episode on Tuesday was that it hasn't happened sooner. I can't tell you how afraid we have always been of Pregnant Erin and how excited we were to find that she's actually a pretty nice person (who just likes to sleep a lot). Who knew?

Trouble came, however, when I started reading this book:

If I could sum up what I got out of the first couple of chapters, it would be this:

1. Having a baby is like throwing a grenade into your once-happy marriage.
2. Nic and I will never understand each other's needs.
3. Happiness as we know it is about to come to an end.
4. Nic is going to act like a giant douche.

As I read scenarios about couple after couple hating their new lives as parents, I could literally feel my heart pounding out of my chest. That's why when Nic came home an hour or so later than he said, it was all over: This was the start of us never being happy again. He didn't want to come home because we're having a baby and men don't understand babies and he's never going to understand me. Who would want to come home to a tired, pregnant wife anyway? Men don't really want babies. And so on and so forth.

Are you starting to see why Nic confiscated this book? He came home to me sitting on the floor in tears informing him that I was freaking out and can't have a baby. And that's when he calmly reminded me how undouche-like he is and that he was taking my book. It was one of the shortest crises I've ever had.

When I told Nic I was writing about this, his declaration again was: "I'm not like the guys in that book, dammit!" Totally true. I'm lucky to have someone who can find me crying on the floor and make it okay. He'll still laugh about it though, which is one of the reasons I like him so much.

Oh, and if anyone wants a good alternative to Babyproofing Your Marriage, read Heather Armstrong's It Sucked, and Then I Cried. Or watch "Away We Go." Both address the same sort of issues; neither make you want to rethink any important life decisions.

Christmas and some additional info

We spent Christmas Eve and the next morning in Provo with my family and then made our way up to the Stewart's for Christmas dinner. At our various family Christmas parties we told our news to anyone who didn't know. Apparently I had a lot of people convinced that I never wanted kids. It's not that I never wanted them, just not until recently.

Alissa sent baby a Christmas present, and while the dogs think they look delicious, I cannot get over the fact that I have baby toys. For a real live baby to play with. I don't know if I can sufficiently say how crazy that seems to me. I mean, besides my pants getting tighter and feeling yucky all the time, there is so far no tangible evidence to suggest that we are really going to be parents in June. But there are occasionally little things, like these toys, where I think ho-lee-crap, we're having a baby! We seriously couldn't be happier.

And since I've been pretty scarce with any details, here's a little recap of the past few months for those who are interested:

• I found out I was pregnant in October when I went in to have surgery on my wrist. They sent me home after my prego test came back positive.
  
• I didn't break the news to Nic in any sort of creative way. I called him in the hospital parking lot and told him I didn't have the surgery because of the pregnancy test. His response: "Are you shitting me?" To which I answered: "No, I'm not shitting you!!!" This is possibly one of my favorite conversations that we've ever had; you just have to imagine the two of us ecstatically cursing during one of the most life-changing exchanges we've ever had.
• My mom was supposed to pick me up after my surgery, so I called her at work to let her know there was no need. That's when I told her the news over the phone while she was at work. I'm really not good at telling people about this.
• Josh and Jess were in town right after I found out, but we were still too nervous to tell anyone. Sorry guys, I told you I'm not good at this.
• I told Alissa after she picked me up from the airport in California. And if anyone needs someone who knows how to treat a pregnant lady, Alissa is your woman.
  
• Nic eventually told some of his family members, but the majority of people didn't know until December after we had an ultrasound and saw that everything was going well.

I just started my second trimester and I think I'm starting to feel better. For a while there I was super nauseous all the time. I managed to only actually throw up twice: once at my desk at work and once at home. Now the main thing is that I'm just tired all the time. If you didn't know I was pregnant, you wouldn't be able to tell--but that doesn't stop me from feeling rotund all of the time.

Nic has been amazing and has taken good care of me. I think he's worried that I'm going to be disappointed if baby turns out to be a boy...right now I refer to baby as Baby Norah, because, well, I want a little Norah. But we also have a boy name, so I promise I'm happy either way. Shopping for girl stuff if just so much more fun.

All of this is to say that we really truly are thrilled and excited. I could do without this whole pregnancy thing, but we're looking forward to the baby part. So hopefully my lack of enthusiasm about this part hasn't given anybody the wrong idea about how happy we are overall. The end.

Wherein I spill the beans:

I'm pregnant. With a baby.

Due June 29, 2010.