Welcome Clementine!

JJ's cousin, Emilia (and her husband Oliver) gave birth to their first baby early this morning: Clementine Helen Smith. It was a fun surprise because they didn't find out what they were having, so it was so fun finding out. They birthed at home (for 24 hours!) and delivered early this morning. Congrats Emme and Oliver. We can't wait to meet her!

Team Uniform

My labor coaches are all ready with their team uniform for the birth of Finn!

They're Back

My parents just got back from spending three weeks in Europe and on a Mediterranean cruise. They had a great time (how could they not!). Last night we had a big family dinner like we usually do on Thursday nights, but had missed for the last few weeks. It was an extra treat because my uncle Jeff was in town and so he and my cousin Samantha joined us as well. And Samantha announced the fun surprise that she is pregnant! She's a few months behind me and not really showing too much, but we had to take a picture of the pregnant cousins.

It's Beginning to Look a lot Like Christmas

Today, JJ and I went out and bought our Christmas tree. It was actually about the easiest time ever. Last night when we were driving home from my parents' house, we passed a lot that had a sign reading, "All Nobles- $25." I knew I wanted to start there, because I am a noble only gal, and $25 is a pretty good price. We drove there this morning and bought the first tree we looked at. We looked at others, but kept coming back to the same one. It literally took less than 5 minutes (my dad will be jealous because my mom usually takes hours and as many as five or six different lots).

I spent the late afternoon decorating. It was lots of fun because last year we were party poopers and didn't decorate at all, so I hadn't seen any of my stuff for two years. It took me about three hours, but it's pretty much done. I didn't ever find my topper, so I'll need to go buy another (aw, shucks!).

Giving Thanks

On this Thanksgiving, I have so many things to be thankful for, so I thought I'd list a few:

JJ: I feel so thankful to have a husband who makes me laugh everyday, takes wonderful care of our home, works hard and falls asleep with his hand on my stomach every night so he can feel close to Finn. I had a realization the other day that one of the reasons it's so easy to be married to JJ is the fact that I can't imagine a problem, big or small, that he couldn't solve. That's a nice feeling as to have as a wife. I love that he works so hard for our growing family, but that he also is always willing to help out my brother, my parents, his parents, our neighbors. I also love the fact that he was so annoyed last night at dinner when there was a dad across the room from us that was on his iphone the whole dinner and completely ignoring his wife and daughter. I know that JJ is going to be engaged with us and a part of our lives.

Families: JJ and I are very lucky to genuinely like each other's families. Whenever you join another family there are always little oddities and annoyances that you aren't used to from your own family of origin, but I can truly say that JJ and I really like each other's families (including parents, siblings and spouses, and extended family).

Security: JJ and I both have jobs that we like and are secure. We have a home that we love and can afford. We have masters degrees that will hopefully keep us employed and marketable for a long time to come. And we also have families that are willing and able to lend a hand if it should ever come to that. It's a wonderful thing to live life feeling very secure and I am thankful for that daily.

Pregnancy: I think that every pregnancy is a miracle. Our bodies are so amazingly designed and it's unbelievable that all these small details can come together to create a life. I feel doubly lucky because we were told it was going to be extremely difficult to get pregnant (and it was) and then a few weeks after we found out we were pregnant, we were told it was likely we would miscarry. Here we are, 25 weeks pregnant, and Finn is thumping around inside me. I feel so lucky that JJ and I are going to be parents in about three months!

Under Pressure

Since I've been pregnant, I have really been fighting with my blood pressure. When I first went to the midwife, my blood pressure was 145/90. Since then, I have been seeing a naturopath and we've been messing with my diet and exercise, as well as taking a bunch of herbal remedies. I was able to bring it down a bit and in the last few months have been hovering around 135/85, which is still a little high, but a much more reasonable number.

There are a few reasons why blood pressure is important during pregnancy. One, if the blood pressure spikes, it can be really hard on the baby. Another, it can be a sign of eclampsia, which causes the mom to have seizures and cut off oxygen to the baby. My midwife doesn't think I am likely in danger for either of these things. They usually happen when blood pressure is normal and then goes very high during pregnancy. Since my blood pressure has been high since day one, she thinks Finn is probably handling it just fine because it's all he's ever known.

Here's the real problem. I'm not birthing in a hospital. Apparently, state law has a couple regulations for birthing centers. One, if I have two pre-labor readings that are higher than 140/90, I am supposed to be referred to a high risk doctor (I have technically had two already, but my bottom number has been okay both times, so I'm still within range). I'm not too worried about this one because I seem to have been able to keep it low enough to pass.

The real problem is the second regulation: I can't go above 150/100 during labor. If that happens they will have to transport me to the hospital, which I really, really don't want. So, my goal has been to get my blood pressure low enough that I can have a 15 point jump or so during labor and still stay under the magic number.

Today I went to the naturopath and my blood pressure was 126/78. That is literally exactly where I need to be. I was just there a week ago and I was quite a bit higher. We adjusted my gemmos a little (those are the herbal drops I take three times a day) and also did something that seems so counter intuitive: lowered the amount of water I drink and upped my salt intake. We estimated that I was drinking 100 to 120 ounces of water a day and it was just way too much and was flushing all the salt out of my system. I guess salt is pretty important in pregnancy and I just wasn't getting enough.

Well, we have a little over three months to go and I'm hoping that I can keep it around this level. We'll keep our fingers crossed!

A Day of Rest

I rarely take sick days and when I do, it's not usually that I'm overly sick, but that I have a doctor's appointment or something medical like that. Today, I am staying home sick. I fell asleep last night at 7:00. I slept for about an hour and half and then JJ came down with some dinner for me. I ate, watched a little TV and fell back to sleep about an hour later. I figured I would wake up about 4am and be roaring to go.

Not the case. When my alarm went off at 5:45, I could barely pick my head up. My nose was itchy and I was just so dang tired still. I laid there for about thirty seconds and decided that today I was going to call in sick!

I got up, logged on to the sub website and requested my current favorite substitute (and I got him, always a bonus!). Then threw on some sweats, that barely fit, and drove into school. That's when I realized that today was a terrible day to take a sick day. I do about five million little beginning of the week routines with my students: write in our planners, set learning goals for the week, practice Greek and Latin roots, etc.

With all these details to explain, it took me almost an hour to write my sub plans. I was looking up at the clock totally rushing because I knew I only had ten minutes before the students started rolling in and I did not want to be there. Anyway, I finished, escaped and said a little prayer that the sub would be able to figure it all out. Now I'm at home just finishing a glass of orange juice, about to go take some vitamin D, head back to bed and hope that my pregnant body can fight off whatever is coming!