Baby Blankets!

Many months ago I went to JoAnn's and bought a bunch of fabric with the intention of sewing baby blankets for Baby Remy #2. Baby blankets are the one thing I know how to sew so I thought I'd try being domestic. I sewed two in November for a professor at my work who had her baby in December and sewed two at the same time for my baby but that left five to go.
Life happened and I never got around to it. My mother-in-law and sister-in-law saved the day by sewing the rest of the blankets plus a few more!
Here are the blankets from my mother- and sister-in-law:

Aren't those so cute?! I especially love the stitching on the monkey blanket. It looks like little bananas! And plaid? Does Tyson's fam know me or what?

And here are the blankets with the fabric I had picked out:

You might not think a baby needs this many blankets but I use them for just about everything: nursing cover, diaper changing area, burp cloth, spill cleaner, play mat, etc. They are washable, adorable, and I love them all. But especially the science one. I showed that fabric to Tyson and now he wants one in his size :)

39 Weeks: Pasmo?

Did you know it is totally possible for a pregnant woman's cervix to re-contract? Undilate? I don't know what the term is for that but I am back to where I was at 37 weeks. According to some lady on the internet (so it must be true) there is a term for stopped contractions, cervix re-dilation, or whatever, in Spanish: pasmo. Here's the article: http://inamay.com/going-backwards-the-concept-of-pasmo/
It was a pretty interesting read but I haven't found any recent, hard science to back it up. Considering what's going on in my life though, this isn't really that surprising.
Here I am, yesterday:

At my appointment this morning, my doc told me I'm back at 1 cm and I'm still just 50% effaced.

In the car today I was talking to Tyson about this and he speculated it's because I'm too stressed and that I need to relaxed. I laughed at him.

So, what's been going on in my life? I'm fighting the cold that never ends, I'm doing three master's classes, and our house is under construction and (since Wednesday) it's being painted so the house is smelly. 

Today has been the worst, though. I got William ready for preschool, the painters arrived at 8am sharp 'cause they're awesome like that, then I showered and got ready for my doctor's appointment. I exited my room at 9:10am and the painters were upstairs, wrapping my living room in plastic! Tyson and I had smooshed all the living room/kitchen stuff into the middle of those rooms on Wednesday. We had been told that the painters wouldn't get to the upstairs until Friday (today) afternoon at the earliest.

When I got home from my appointment at 10:30am, I met with our contractor to review paint colors for the upstairs rooms and then Tyson and I got to work. We had 1.5 hours until William got home from preschool to get William's room, our room, the laundry room, two bathrooms, and the office/dump room ready for painting. We emptied every closet, emptied and moved three bookshelves full of books and games, put all our hung-up clothing in one of our cars (for protection), and got all the artwork/surround sound system off the walls. We didn't finish before William got home but we did finish by 1:30pm. Before we finished the painters were already upstairs taping off doorways, the doorbell, and lightswitches. They even started doing some of the edging in our main hallway and entryway! 

Note: I'm taking lots of pictures which I will post on Facebook after the painting is all over. I will post a link here when that happens.

I was secretly/not-so-secretly hoping that all that moving would get my contractions going again, but nothing is happening.
We're out of the house for the weekend since the painters are also working on Saturday to get the whole upstairs done! I really hope they will finish everything because I'm only got 7 days until my due date and all my "nesting" and organizing prep-work just got thrown out the window. Yikes!
The good news about baby not being here yet is that I have more time to do schoolwork, more time to recover from my cold, the whole house will be painted, and my mom will be fully recovered from her bout of pneumonia so she'll be allowed to come see us in maybe a week or so. If I can keep baby in until his due date, my dad and youngest sister might even be able to come up for a long weekend to meet Baby Remy #2! 
The other good thing is that we are using this extra time to try and pick a name. As it stands, we have one favorite which would cause familial strife and four or five backup names. I'm not super attached to any of the backups and I'm trying my best not to be attached to our favorite.
We are out of the house for the weekend since there is no safe place there from the fumes. I'm looking forward to spending lots of time on my homework and trying my best to relax. Wish me luck!

38 Weeks

Today I am 38 weeks pregnant. At my appointment this morning the doc measured me at 2cm dilated and still 50% effaced. So, not a lot of improvement despite the contractions I was having on Wednesday. The good news is that this gives me more time to jam on schoolwork and to recover from this ridiculous cold before baby gets here. My mom is also sick but she's got it way worse: pneumonia. Maybe baby will wait until my due date and then my mom will be cleared for travel! 
My cold continues to be awfully irritating. I was given permission to take Tylenol Cold meds so I'm definitely doing that on top of all the other things I've already been doing: nasal irrigation, steam, hot showers, cough drops, SARS mask, and tea with honey. I really hope there starts to be some improvement. Doc says I probably just have the viral cold (they really haven't seen much of the bacterial cold) but that if I can't beat it back I may pick up something worse. I DEFINITELY don't want that. 
Tyson couldn't sleep last night. He's been having some weird stomach pain but since he's allergic to aspirin and non-steroidal anti-inflammatories (NSAID) he's really limited in the medicine he can take. No Pepto Bismol. No Alka Seltzer. No Ibuprofen. It's sad. Anyways, he couldn't sleep so at 3am he was up and cleaning the house. He picked up all of William's toys from the front room, cleaned William's bathroom, organized our medicine cabinet, and ran some laundry. This afternoon we deep cleaned the living room, granted, we were looking for my cell phone, but at least the room is done! Our next project will be our room which really shouldn't be that bad.
Construction continues in the basement. The drywalling is done. I'm not sure what they were doing today but I'll be glad when the "construction" phase is over so the dust will go away. Installing cabinets and appliances and tiles shouldn't create that much dust. I'm having such a hard time breathing lately with my cold and I don't think the construction is helping anything. Tonight I'm going to set up the humidifier in my room and, if my brother isn't sleeping here tonight, I might borrow his air purifier and see if that will help me sleep. It feels like I'm breathing chemicals. It burns! Le sigh. Soon this baby will be here and I'll be able to take lots more meds to fight back this illness.

37 Weeks

Friday was my 37 week mark which means baby can come whenever he wants. At my appointment on Friday I was 1.5cm dilated and 50% effaced. When my doc told me I was SHOCKED. At this point with William I was not dilated at all but 80% effaced. At 41 weeks with William I was the same. Seriously. I checked into the hospital and the nurse asked me if I was having any contractions. Nope. She told me I probably just didn't know I was having them and then hooked me up to the machine that can "see" your contractions. "Wow. You're not having ANY contractions." Thanks. I know.
Today I am 37 weeks and 5 days and I think I might be having some light contractions. Mostly it feels like period cramps or back cramps. To make sure, I'm drinking a ton of water. Doc says that dehydration can lead to pre-term labor. William and I are going to the Orem Heritage Museum today with the scouts. Maybe the extra walking will get things going for real. Construction is still going on at the house and our dog can't be downstairs when the guys are here because she just sits there and barks. This means I have to put her outside (where she'll bark at the neighbors) or in the laundry room since she can weasel her way under the railing on the stairs. Well the guys left the downstairs door OPEN, Maggie ran downstairs before I could catch her (Hello, I'm slow) and she ran outside. Sans collar. I got William dressed (we prefer him in less clothes because of potty training) and in his "backpack" (harness) and we headed out. Luckily Maggie was just across the street.
I still have not packed a hospital bag or William's overnight bag. Laundry is almost done though so I WILL do that today. I'm really trying to jam on this week's homework. I've only got a few things left to do and I'd rather not be trying to do homework in the hospital. The bag seems less important than my homework. Tyson could always come back and get me things but he can't do my homework for me.
In non-pregnancy news, Tyson got a raise at work! I'm so proud of him. And it's perfect timing since I'll be off work for a while. William is going to start going to preschool three days a week instead of just two. The adaptive P.E. teacher only comes on Tuesdays and Thursdays but William goes Wednesdays and Fridays. Since he broke his leg, he hasn't been quite as coordinated. In fact, sometimes he'll walk like a cowboy. Or sometimes he won't bend his ankle when he walks. His teacher wanted to add a third day of preschool so he could have adaptive P.E. Sounds great to us! William's speech is doing so much better since he started school. He loves going to "class" on the bus and it's so cute to have him tell me all the things he's done every time he goes.
I'm not sure if this is a speech thing or just a normal development thing, but William's memory and recall is really amazing. He tells me all the time about he went with his grandma to the zoo and Legoland and saw whales. Those things all happened the week after Christmas and he's STILL talking about them! I love it. Also, William went to Sunbeams (Sunday school for 3-year-olds) for the first time in our ward this week. He was sad not to go to Nursery (18months to 3 years) but I checked on him during second hour while he was in class and he was participating and doing so well! My neighbor told me that he was super cute during Primary. I didn't get a chance to ask her what he did but I'm glad he wasn't a sad or crazy kid.
So, there you have it. Tyson got a raise. William is still fantastic. And Baby Remy #2 could be making an appearance sooner than we thought. Happy Wednesday!