Stuff aplenty

We're beginning the painstaking process of sorting all of our baby gear from Scarlett. I knew we had a lot of stuff, but I had no idea it was SO MUCH!

Boxes upon boxes of clothes (mostly pink), bottles, toys, books, odds and ends...

I feel glad that I saved so many things, but exhausted that I still need to go through it!

Proof is in the picture

The picture on the left is me the day before delivering Scarlett via C-Section.

The picture on the right is me now - two months before delivering Baby Bacon.

Wow.

A more restful night

Last night was my first night sleeping upright in the living room chair. I wasn't excited to start this trend and I put it off for entirely too long. I really hate the idea of not going to bed in MY bed, next to Ben, in the room next to Scarlett.

The pain and sleeplessness has gotten to be too much, though. So I gave up and moved to the living room, where I slept upright in our lounge chair, surrounded by pillows and propped on the ottoman. Surprisingly enough, I slept pretty well! I still got up twice during the night to pee (to be expected) and I still woke up a little stiff, but it sure beats the hip pain! Added plus - watching whatever drivel I wanted to as I slept! Only two more months to go!

Although unrelated to this post, I really wanted to post this family photo which my MIL took the day after Christmas. Pretty darn good, I think!

An almost St. Patty's Day Baby!

WE FINALLY HAVE A DATE! Pardon my excitement, but we finally scheduled our C-Section! Baby Bacon's birth date will be March 19, 2012 (barring any unforeseen circumstances). We'll head into St. Elizabeth's hospital at 5:30 a.m. that morning for a 7:30 a.m. delivery. The doctor gave me the choice of St Patrick's Day, but I chose to delay for a couple of days. As Ben said, "I don't want the baby thinking I always get drunk on his birthday!"

I learned a few interesting things at this appointment, my 28-week checkup:

* Strictly speaking numbers, I've only gained 2 pounds this pregnancy and nothing in the last three appointments.
* Bacon is already breech - feet down - and won't be flipping around. Thankfully we know about my uterine situation or the doctor may have wanted to do an inversion. He's running out of room and so he's placed his head in the space where he has the most room, which is near my ribs. Its makes breathing awesome. :( This is also why most of the movements I feel are nearer to my crotch than to my ribs.
* Bacon was definitely on a sugar high from the Glucol drink. The nurse had a hard time focusing his heartbeat and he kept kicking her when she did. He also didn't care to get his picture taken, as he turned his back every time we attempted. I'm not sure if this bodes well for his personality!
* I forget how routine these things are for doctors. My doctor had to schedule the procedure for an early time so that she could still volunteer in her son's classroom. Good for her!

The clothes make the baby

I think I've been in denial. Well, maybe not denial, but definitely not in reality. I just can't believe that I'm having a boy! I was sure I was going to have another girl - not because of my female/motherly intuition, but because that was just the way it was going to be. My mom had all girls, a lot of my family members either have all boys or all girls, I had a girl and I just couldn't fathom having a boy.

As time has passed, I'm getting a little more used to the idea. I occasionally still call Bacon "she" and I always pause nostalgically at the little baby girl clothes. However, after building up a nice supply of baby boy clothes from Christmas presents and hand-me-downs from my friends, I think I'm starting to accept this "boy" thing.

Sure, the little girly tutus are cute, but who can resist a little bowtie or onesie with a bear on the butt!

Quack

Apparently, I'm starting to waddle. I don't necessarily think it's the weight of my belly and I don't think I do it all of the time. Yet, sometimes when I get up in the morning, my hips are sore and stiff and therefore... I waddle. After I've been sitting at my desk for more than an hour, my back and hips hurt, therefore... I waddle. After I've been sitting on the floor, my hips are a little stretched and out of joint, therefore... QUACK! Okay, I waddle.

Everything else is going well. At my six-month appointment, I was fitted for a pregnancy belt, which should alleviate a little of the back pain. Baby Bacon still seems on the big side, but I'm trying to reserve judgment on that until a little later. My doctor thought Scarlett was going to be a big baby too. During the surgery we heard my doctor mutter, "huh." Turns out she was only 6 lbs, 6 oz. She just seemed big because I didn't have as much space to hold her in there! I'm waiting to see if that's going to happen this time around. Next appointment I also have my glucose screening, which could also be an answer for Bacon's size. One thing's for sure, it's not the extra "eating for two," since I'm not able to do that at all!

I'm happily waiting the day where Scarlett can feel Bacon kicking. It's very slight now to any outsiders (Ben barely felt it), but he's very active in there. He really enjoyed the ballet, as he was moving and kicking the whole time to the Nutcracker music!

What's in a name?

Now that it's assuredly known that Baby Bacon is a boy, we've been getting a lot of questions about names. "Have you decided what to name him yet?" "Do you have any finalists?"

Yes, Ben and I have been scouring the baby names book for names that we love, amassing a finalist list of about 10 names. We both went through the book, making notes of names that we like, love and have to have! Once we were finished, we traded lists and went through the veto process. In the end, we have a nice list to mull over. I can say that Ben is more focused on the meanings of the names and whether we can "pull them off." He loves the names Ari and Tyrone, but doesn't necessarily think that they would be appropriate for little Irish Baby Bacon! I'm more concerned about the aesthetics. Do I like the name; does it have nicknames; is it easy to make fun of; does it sound good with Coleman?

In the long run, we've decided not to share our finalists. Apparently (and I didn't know this before last night), Ben had encountered some people who thought that our picks last time were ridiculous, even including the name Scarlett. I can't believe that someone would actually call your name picks stupid, especially to your face, knowing that these are the names that you love. But, I guess it happens.

I can say that a huge amount of the names are Irish in origin. I don't think we meant to do that, but it just happened! I can also tell you that some of the names that we have had on our list forever have fallen off this time around. I'm sad to report that Baby Bacon will not be named Ari or Gavin. :( However, there are some great names on our list! We'll probably go into the surgical room with about 5 and decide once we see Bacon what his name should be. Worst case scenario, he remains Baby Bacon!