36 week home visit!

Here are a few pics from our home visit from our midwife, Alina today. Yeah! I can't believe it's already 36 weeks... time flies when you're growin' a baby!

Finding Home Sweet Home

Well, finally we have found a roof over our heads! Our little real estate deal did not go through (the short sale house) but I think every day that passes we are actually thankful it didn't happen. It is just that we are in such a transitory phase in our lives right now and I think buying a house would be too confining. We need to be free to move about in the next year or so as we settle into life in the US. That sounds funny for me to say that, as I am from here! But for Yann this moving to the States permanently has been a big change. First, he has basically quit his job that he had in France for the last six years, then he's about to become a daddy, and he is coming to this country where he has vacationed, but never lived. All I can say, is that thank God he already speaks English! That would just be too much to bear if he had to learn the language too!


But, we found a great house rental about a 3 minute drive from my parents neighborhood. It's got a huge fenced in yard, which was our first requirement. It's an older home that has been renovated from top to bottom and we are the first to rent it since the renovation. It has a big, big kitchen with gleaming new stainless steel appliances. A real cooks kitchen with lots of counter space. We feel like we're living pretty large in this house. We don't own enough furniture to fill the place up! But I'm sure we'll manage. And the one thing that sealed the deal is that I have my very own craft room with nice natural light and wood floors! I can't wait to set up a little sewing and painting nook in there. I think we will be very happy in this house for one year and even though I'm not a huge fan of carpets (I think they get filthy very quickly and are harder to clean) the house has all brand new carpet. I think this will be good for the baby once she begins to crawl and walk. So, we are moving in on Thursday and then Yann and my dad have to drive up to NC and move all my stuff out of my parents basement up there and bring it to Florida.


I had a midwife appointment last week and I have one on Sept. 30th also. The one on the 30th is the home visit, where the midwife comes to check your house out for the home birth. She checks to be sure you have gathered all the items for the birth kit. Now my appointments are weekly because I am at 35.5 weeks. I can't believe I'm almost at 37 weeks! It's crazy to think that any time after 37 weeks it's ok if I go into labor. ( The midwives won't deal with your birth if you go into labor anytime before 37 wks. ) We are slowly knocking out all our natural birthing classes and they are so informative and fun. I almost will be sad when they end! Her heartbeat sounds healthy and she is in her head down position and that's about all the new info from the appointments. Pretty much she is just packing on fat now in the womb; you go girl! I am feeling pretty great to be this far in the pregnancy. I am having some intense heartburn at night! That is a symptom that I never thought I'd be prone to in pregnancy, but apparently very bizarre things happen to your body during this time. I thought maybe I'd only experience this if I ate a massively greasy hamburger right before bed. However, I can eat a salad for dinner and have the same problem. I felt funny buying Tums for the first time in my life! They taste awful, like those horribly chalky candies from the 1970's: Nekko's. Yuck! But if that is my biggest complaint at 35 weeks then I guess it's really not so bad!!! Also, my appetite is outa control. I feel like Godzilla of eating. I just can't get enough and I am constantly on the prowl for food. Sometimes I wake up at 4am and raid the fridge for anything, because I can't sleep I'm so hungry. PB&J's at 5am are amazing.


When we move in Yann will paint the nursery. That is always a big rite of passage for the dad, isn't it? Going together to Home Depot and picking out the nursery paint for your first baby. And then I get out of the hard work of actually painting, because you know paint fumes are not good for baby!! :) I also have a free pass to get out of lifting a finger during our move! Oh, how lazy and indulgent I feel! I've moved myself so many times to various rental houses, always sweaty, exhausted, and sore at the end of the move. So, it will be great to just play the role of "Move Director". Oh, Yann won't like the sound of that-(sorry honey, bad joke!)

Anyways, here is a pic of our new car: Toyota Highlander! A family car, our petite SUV, our carbon footprint...



Here are some pics of when Abby, Steph, and I did the Mommy Glam photo shoot. They are my two dear best friends of so many years. These two are so essential to my life. You can't imagine...And Abby called me a few days ago and said the maternity photos are coming soon in the mail so I will definitely share them when I get them.





And here is my favorite pic from my baby shower:



And here is a belly shot from Sept 19th, 2009:




And finally here i am today in the yard with my mom after swimming at about 36 weeks!! Holy belly shot! I am brave in posting this one...

no go on the chi-town trip

Well, Yann & I didn't end up blowin' into the Windy City after all this weekend for my cousin, Kat's wedding. I did wish so bad we could have been there to see her and the family, but I just felt, after talking with my midwife, that it would be best not to do any plane travel at this stage in the pregnancy game. Also, there is that whole Swine Flu thing floating around still and I really didn't want to get that in the airport. It sounded like the wedding and the weather in Chicago was beautiful.

So, here are just some pictures from the last week. Us out on the boat and also Rascal and Mopsy getting to know each other a little better. (Hence, the butt sniffing in the pic).















I'm feeling pretty good, especially after going to see a chiropracter for my lower back ache. I had gotten a expensive massage and it felt good but did not help the situation. Then, at Rosemary birthing center I was advised to go see a Chiro. for some relief. I had always been skeptical about them in general, but I was in pain and open to any suggestions. So, I went and this lady kind of specializes in pregnant women. She cracked me like a nut! My neck, my back in 2 spots, and my spine. Wow, it felt so good and it really helped out in the ache department. So, I have another appointment for Friday. It's been about 2 weeks since Yann arrived and we are happily reunited. It's so nice to have him by my side at the midwife appointments and to feel the baby kick. He has been so great about taking good care of me and doing all my 'heavy-lifting' tasks. Thank God for him; that he is here safe and sound.

So, this is why I love my husband. I made brownies and he doesn't like the crust, so he kept cutting little pieces from the inner part of the pan. I went for a bite yesterday and found this scene:

swimmingly well

Now I'm a happier camper because my husband arrived safe and sound, although very tired last week. I thought the moment he walked through the door would never come! I felt the worst for our French cat, Mopsy, who had been confined in her little cat carrier for about 36 hours with no food, water, or a chance to pee! Poor thing! When Yann finally flew into Miami, he expected to just get his bags, breeze through customs and then hop in the rental car and head to Sarasota. But they kept him sitting and waiting in customs for 3 1/2 hours! And they knew he had an animal with him that really needed to get out of that bag, but they didn't give him much sympathy. So, when he came to my house I had the litter pan all set up for her and I've never seen a cat pee for that long. Poor baby.

Anyways, we have been having lots of fun since he came. Baby classes (actually, natural childbirth education class), feeling baby moving like crazy in my stomach, baby shower (he just showed up at the end for a few minutes), boating, swimming, eating out a lot, and shopping for baby and for a good pair of flip flops for Yann.

We are quite comfortable at his parents vacant condo. We've moved my dog over here and are working with him and the cat to help them get along. It's going well, but he gets upset every time she walks in front of his food dish. He thinks she trying to steal his food. How do we deal with this issue, anyone?? We put his food in the closet and left the door open a crack. God forbid she ever wanders into that closet.

Baby shower was awesome. I love seeing all my old friends! (But let me get back to the shower later.) It was actually a good idea to have it the same weekend as my 10 year high school reunion. This way, I already had a lot of friends coming into town for that. The cocktail hour for the reunion was on Friday night, so Yann and I had dinner with some friends first and then we walked down to the bar where it was. Let me tell you, the guy from our class that planned this event, did not do a good job. It was so disorganized: no one really knew what time it began or even what bar it was at. There was supposed to be a dinner the next night, but some people hadn't heard about a dinner and no one knew where it was either. So, as Yann and I go into this two floor bar it's insanely loud, filled with very loud bass and club music. Baby started going crazy, moving a lot. Then, we went upstairs to where this reunion was to be held. First thing I couldn't help but notice was the extremely thick and grey haze of cigarette smoke filing the entire room. Also, as I looked around at the general population of the bar I realized that only about 40% of the people there graduated high school with me. The rest of the crowd was a random mix of cigarette puffing, beer guzzling old dudes playing pool. So, we literally stayed for 10 minutes and high tailed it outa there.

Back to the shower: I need to post the pics from the shower, but I don't have my transfer cord thingy for the digital camera handy. So, it was really great to see so many friends I haven't seen for a long time and the food and gifts were so good. We got lots of baby gear, people! Loot! It blows my mind how generous people are. Loads of cute outfits and all kinds of soft blankies and jingly stuffed animals. A car seat!! A "Stationary entertainer", which is basically a big colorful mess of plastic made in China, but darn it if all babies don't love to sit in those things! After everyone left, Yann and I sat in the pile of gifts and began cutting off tags to wash things and it really hit us that we are about to become parents in just a few weeks. It was an exciting feeling, although a little scary! I've been so focused on the pregnancy and learning about the delivery, that I hadn't been thinking enough about after all that! Well, I guess I can start dreaming about that now, because I'm at about 33 weeks and the midwives say any time after 37 weeks I could safely deliver the baby with them.

My other favorite part of the weekend was when my friend Abby, the very lovely and talented photographer of Liga Photography, took maternity photos of Yann and I. I cannot wait to see these pictures. and post some of them here! She showed my a few, just on her camera, after the shoot and I think they will be amazing, as her photos always are.

We are going up to my cousin's wedding this weekend in Chicago and I will be back with news and photos from the Windy City!