39 Weeks 5 days

How far along? 39 Weeks 5 days

Countdown? 2 days until the infamous Due Date. They'll give him 2 more weeks on the other side of that to make his appearance.

Stretch Marks: Whoa mama! I hope that stretch mark cream I see commercials for on tv works. Otherwise I'm going to start spray tanning. It's a good thing I can't see most of them. My inner and outer thighs have those lovely deep dark purple stripes. Under my belly, I've been told, is quite the disaster area. And of course, the tatas grew at an alarming rate so they were not spared either. Oy vey.

Sleep: Ha! I pee every other hour. In an attempt to make my path to the commode easier, Jay has started pulling Mugsy onto his side of the bed, which puts him in the middle of the bed, so I end up tripping over his feet instead of the dog. If we haven't worked this out by now, I doubt we ever will. A comedy of errors. Jay and I have also been getting our share of strange dreams about the baby. I continue to dream that he will come out a toddler. Jay has been reassured in his sleep that our son is indeed all male.

Best Moment of the Week: We (or rather Jay) mudded, primed, painted, and re-painted the entire downstairs of our soon to be house! We pulled up the plastic that was protecting the concrete floors, and Jay mopped and scrubbed in some muriatic acid wash to prep for the concrete stain! Hopefully, we will stain tonight and we (again, meaning Jay) can install the shower this weekend! Then, all we need is trim, doors, outlets and switches, a toilet, a vanity, and some furniture and we are ready to move in!!! Still a race to the finish and we may have to spend a week or two with the newborn in the airstream, but man oh man I'm I impressed with my guy! He really busted his butt to get it to this point.

Worst Moment of the Week: I must have rolled over a screw or a rock in the house while I was keeping Jay company this week. My birth ball has a hole in it. :( It's a sad little deflated ball now. Probably make a trip to walmart today to buy a new one.

Movement: I hardly notice his jabs and kicks anymore. When I'm eating he likes to stretch out and I can always tell which end is his feet because when I push back slightly he moves away. I'm not so much worried about his movement anymore. Sensations coming from my stomach are 10% him, 90% braxton hicks contractions. And they are getting intense! I always wanted rock hard abs, but good Lord.

Food Craving: ice cream and chocolate.

Food Aversions: I'm up for anything.

Gender: Boy

Belly Button: Pretty sure it will stay the lop-sided skin volcano. Not popping out all the way.

What I miss: being the slightest bit comfortable. Bending forward.

What I look forward to: Sweet, glorious relief.

Paper Mache Mobile!

Corbin's name has been finished for awhile. I had a lot of fun working with the paper mache to create it. It got me thinking. What else can I make with paper mache for the nursery?

How about a mobile for above the crib or above the changing area?!

Typical mobiles are 4 or 5 stuffed characters on a motorized hanger that spins and plays music. I wanted something a bit more artsy.

The inspiration:
The blog I found this baby on (click image for link) detailed how to recreate the look with various sized, wooden sewing circles, fishing line, and a few small weights.

Well, I want to do this project for as little moolah as possible. So I decided I would paper mache the pieces instead!

The letter in the center was made the same as the letters in Corbin's Name and the rings were created using a compass and cardboard.

So here's the progress so far:
Next comes paint and finishing touches. I'll add a finished picture when it is indeed finished. :)

37 Weeks

How far along? 37 Weeks 1 day

Countdown: 20 days to go!!

Exercise: Yea right. It takes me 4 tries to get out of bed.

Stretch marks: Inner thighs have gotten it the worst, followed by boobs, and the belly undercarriage.

Sleep: I sleep like a rock in between bathroom breaks. Averaging 5 pee breaks and the occasional heartburn coming out of my nose/choking on vomit trip a night.

Best Moment of the Week: Our prenatal appointment was at the new South Location! It is a half hour closer to us. We were very nervous it would not be completed in time and the drive into the birth center on delivery day would be excruciating. Half hour less excruciating sounds good to me! Also decided to have an internal exam at that appointment and I'm 0 cm dilated but 80% effaced!! Progress!!

Worst Moment of the Week: Spotted a scorpion in the living room of our house to be and decided I don't want to move out of the airstream. The airstream is up 2 feet off of the ground. Nothing slithers or crawls it's way into my living room up here. Jay says he will treat around the house and it shouldn't be an issue once we have doors and such. I have my reservations.

Movement: I keep hoping he'll flip from right to left and assume the position for birth. His head is waaaay down in the pelvis already so we know he's not going to flip breech, thank God! I thought he finally made it over to the left yesterday because I was feeling consistent pressure under my left ribs (which would indicate his butt sticking out) and short jabs on the right side (indicating feet). As I jostle by belly today, I can't be sure. He seems to be right in the middle, kicking my laptop straight up.

Food Craving: When hurricane Hermine hit, all I could think about was a bean burrito from Taco Bell and a brownie earthquake from Dairy Queen. This is not an easy combination to go about here in Kingsland. Taco Bell is in Marble Falls a half hour away from our Kingsland Dairy Queen. Well it rained and rained all day. Jay wouldn't let me drive. The next day it had stopped raining and I was still craving. Jay wouldn't let me drive. We had seen reports of how bad the flooding was so I was forced to wait a third day. By now, Jay was sure my craving had passed but it had only gotten stronger. I finally got my Taco Bell. I had built it up in my head so much that it was a severe let down. I didn't even want the Dairy Queen afterward. So disappointing.

Food Aversions: Nothing. If it's not moving, I'll eat it.

Gender: Oh who knows. We are 75% sure it's a boy, but surprises are always a possibility. We have names picked out for either.

Belly Button: It's not a full outie, but it has worked it's way into protruding the outside edges. It looks like a tiny, flesh colored volcano.

What I miss: the ignorant bliss of never knowing heartburn.

What I'm looking forward to: meeting our little guy!! Won't be long now!

Becoming a Lactation Consultant

There are several ways to go about becoming a Lactation Consultant. To sit for the International Board of Lactation Consultant Examiners you have 3 pathway options. The first option is to use on-the-job experience working with breastfeeding moms and providing lactation support. The second option is to pay for a human lactation and breastfeeding training course. And the third option is to work directly with a certified lactation consultant to acquire clinical experience.

WIC has breastfeeding counselors and from what I could tell, the only prerequisite was successfully breastfeeding a baby. So I inquired about becoming a breastfeeding counselor with WIC to rack up some clinical experience and get me closer to taking that exam. Apparently WIC's breastfeeding counselors are peer counselors and you must have been on WIC in order to work for WIC.

Strike one.

It was then recommended to me to shoot for pathway 3 and work directly for a certified lactation consultant close to home. The only problem is the closest LC to Kingsland is in Austin. Hour and a half drive each way to work for free until I rack up 500-1000 clinical hours, sounds like a great option. In that case, it may be cheaper to pay $800 for the online training and take pathway 2!

Strike two.

The up side of that revelation being, once I become an LC, I will have zero competition in Marble Falls, Kingsland, Granite Shoals, Horseshoe Bay, Llano, Burnet, and Fredericksburg. Another up side of the current situation is I subleased my clinic and started my "Maternity Leave" waaaay too early. I have plenty of time to do some self-study of Human Lactation text books and exam reviews. Many of these books I've found online, for free. And a third upside is I may qualify for federal grants or at least financial aid for the course work should I decide to go pathway 2.

In any event, I still have a lot of research to do. Less blogging more reading.