Do I need to remind anyone that this is the point in pregnancy where pretty much every post will contain TMI and if they don’t want to hear words like “mucus plug” they should stop reading? Did I not do enough to scare those people off with the first baby?

Ok then: IF YOU DON’T WANT TO HEAR ABOUT WHERE BABIES COME FROM, COME BACK AFTER JANUARY 1ST. Or never. Because once this baby is born you’re guaranteed about six months of constant boob talk followed by another six months of “OMG I cannot lose this baby weight” talk and then before you know it I’ll be knocked up AGAIN and thus begins the circle of mommy blogging again. *cue Elton John song*

I had my 38-ish week check-up at the OB this afternoon and it was pants-off, complete with one of the most uncomfortable cervical checks EVER including the kind you get when you’re not pregnant than involve things that look like torture devices. But it was fairly pointless as no signs point to imminent baby arrival (sorry early guessers in the baby pool!) so I’m waiting another week before I let them even talk to me about Things That Might Help Induce Labor.

Or at least that was my plan.

Unfortunately, my blood pressure was a little high (130/80-ish)(which is only borderline high for a normal person but extra high for someone like me whose numbers are usually closer to 90/60) and since I had all those issues with my kidneys, high blood pressure can be a Very Bad Thing and unexplained high blood pressure might be any number of things that could potentially lead to more problems. So my midwife sent me down to the lab for bloodwork and orders to come back tomorrow for another blood pressure check at which point we may begin talking about Things That Might Help Induce Labor or even DO one of the Things That Might Help Induce Labor*. Which suddenly makes this “I’m having a second baby” thing WAY WAY too real. Definitely not good for my blood pressure.

In the meantime, I’m going to do a little happy dance over the SEVEN POUNDS I’ve lost since my last check-up (almost certainly just water weight due to the IV fluids I was full of thanks to hospitalization but still pretty good – losing a few pounds is often a sign labor is imminent)(Also, I am 11 lbs lighter than my 39 week pregnant weight with Baby Evan which means 11 lbs less to lose to get back to my pre-pregnancies weight). I think I’ll also try to make it to Stroller Strides tomorrow, since walking and/or stair climbing might be just what my body needs to get things moving and I would MUCH prefer to let this baby come on her own than start down the road to induction.

But like my midwife said, the full moon is on the 23rd 21st anyways. That’s ONE WEEK until I’m pretty much guaranteed a baby.

*My midwife actually offered to strip my membranes today but a) I wasn’t dilated enough for her to do it b) I wasn’t sure I WANTED her to do it and c) my mom doesn’t come back until Saturday so I CAN’T go into labor until then. Does anyone have experience with membrane stripping working/not working? Google assures me it’s harmless unless labor is already close but sometimes I’m not so sure Google is the most reliable medical source. WHY EVER WOULD I THINK THAT?!

At least, probably. Maybe. Don’t go ordering anything monogrammed just yet. Because when E comes home and says “If she’s born on Christmas, isn’t Piper Noel a nice name?” I can’t stop myself from second guessing Caroline Still-No-Middle-Name, especially after Swistle (squee!!) and her readers came up with a whole list of Christmasy themed possibilities. Suggestions still welcome.

Since the new “nursery” is more of a playroom than an actual nursery (I’m still debating whether or not we’re buying a second crib – so far, “no” is winning) I’m way less interested in making it perfect than making it fun and functional. At the same time, I feel sort of bad that Baby Girl is going to be forced to share her space from the very beginning with an older brother so I’m putting a lot of effort money thought into special touches just for her. I mean, it’s SUPER AWESOME that we’ve already banished most of the ugly, plastic, music playing toys to the second floor, but it also means a pale pastel princess color scheme is totally out of the question. Good thing I was already into the idea of bright colors.

Instead of boring the crap out of you with hundreds of individual posts explaining every step of each project, I’m going to do them in weekly (bi-weekly? monthly? OMG it can’t be monthly because I only HAVE a month left to finish all of this DEEP BREATHS DEEEEEEEEP BREATHS) round-ups.

Project 1: Find a way to display the vintage embroidered bib my mom saved from my (her?) childhood

I *think* it’s a cow surrounded by flowers. Or maybe a vase. Or maybe I’m still high on spray adheisive.

Since the bib is sort of pastel and the room is mostly bright, I wanted a bright frame to put it in.

Green frame from Target: $6.99, tiny fabric squares: free from my swag bag at The Creative Connection, but I’ve seen them at Joann’s for a few bucks a pack

Then I used the spray adhesive to stick the little squares to a piece of off-white cardstock.

I KNOW YOU ARE SO AMAZED RIGHT NOW.

Then I put the bib on the fabric/paper and popped the whole thing in the frame.

And now I have a lovely, girly, almost-free piece of art for the new nursery

Project 2: DIY Ribbon Mobile

I did not come up with this idea, not by a long shot. A Google image search for “ribbon mobile” brings up tons and tons of slightly different versions and it’s not like you NEED instructions. But I learned a few things in my attempt so I’m going to post a tiny how-to.

I only ended up using the larger embroidery hoop and even though I did spray paint it yellow I didn’t really need to. You don’t see enough of the hoop for it to matter.

Figure out how long you want the mobile to be and cut ribbon to approximately twice that length. DON’T go out of your way to make it perfect, since the uneven lengths is what makes it sort of whimsical

I discovered that the thinner the ribbon, the easier it was to work with. I actually gave up on the wide orange kind because it kept coming unlooped. The grosgrain mid-sized ribbon also worked very well once I figured out how to tie it. I originally bought a bunch of ribbon at the fabric store but found MUCH cheaper options at Michael’s – 50 cents a spool with tons left over.

You would think randomly choosing the color order would make life easier, but instead I spent far too long worrying there was too my orange or pink in any one section

In theory, all you have to do to secure the ribbon to the hoop is hold it double, wrap the end where the ribbon is folded around the hoop, then pull the ends through until it’s tight. But with anything thicker than 1/8th inch ribbon, it’s hard to pull it tight enough to make it stay – and I was NOT looking forward to gluing each one individually. So what works is after you pull the ribbon through the loop end, take the free end and pull it through the loop again on the right side. It makes sort of a little knot without changing the way it looks too much.

Ta-da! Beautiful, one of a kind ribbon mobile for the nursery

Project 3: Chalkboard tray as door sign

I used to collect vintage trays and display them as wall art in my living room, so when I saw a chalkboard tray in the Pottery Barn catalog I thought it was a super cute idea. And one that is obviously so ridiculously easy there is no way anyone should bother to buy the one from PB for $200 (sadly, I can’t find the tray online to link to, but it was in the Thanksgiving issue.)

Supplies: totally NON-vintage tray I bought for 10 cents at church rumage sale, chalkboard spray paint, ribbon, Tacky Glue

Yeah, you don’t need a step-by-step for this.

One day, we’ll pick a %^&# name, and I’ll write that on the sign

I’m going to hang it on the door.

Now I’m going to go spray paint some more stuff in my dining room. Because I’m sure that is AWESOME for the baby.

I’ve gotten to the point in pregnancy when people start saying “Oh, you don’t have long now!” both because I am visibly huge and also because it feels – even to other people – like I’ve been pregnant FOREVER. I was pregnant when it was cold in the spring, pregnant when it was hot in the summer, pregnant during the beautiful fall colors and now it is cold again and I am STILL PREGNANT. It depresses me a little to have to say “Yes, well, 6 weeks isn’t that long” even though it feels like the longest amount of time it’s ever taken anyone to finish doing anything ever.

Of course, then I go to the mall and see the Christmas decorations and turn on the radio and hear Christmas music and think about the fact that I only have 6 weeks to finish all these knitting projects and OMG IT’S SO SO SOON! I NEED MORE TIME! I CANNOT POSSIBLY HAVE ANOTHER BABY!

Despite my mixed feelings, I am quickly nearly the point where my personal level of physical discomfort is greater than my fear of keeping an infant alive. Besides the kicked in the crotch pelvic pain, I have horrible sciatic nerve pain in my left leg – which seems like a total “DUH”, considering that’s the hip I’m constantly carrying a toddler around on. The doctor gave me a ridiculous pamphlet on stretches that are supposed to help (stand with your back against a wall! sit in the butterfly position! try the cat-cow pose from yoga!) but considering I’ve been doing ALL OF THOSE several times a day for the last 8 months I think my only hope at this point is a daily Tylenol or two and lots of lying down.

Of course, lying down just makes my heartburn worse, although I’m not sure it could get any MORE worse (more worse?? really, Suzanne?) than it is right now. It’s gotten to the point where I’m not even that interested in food, because I know it’s going to hurt so much later. Plus I have this terrible taste in my mouth that I can’t get rid of. I’ve never experienced anything like it before (while pregnant or not pregnant) but it’s totally gross. At first I thought it was an aftertaste from an artificial sweetener in something I was eating or drinking but I tried switching to water & full fat/real sugar food and it doesn’t help. I tried Googling it but the internet is torn between suggesting I just brush my teeth more and a horrible, birth-defect causing mineral deficiency and suggesting I should be eating more marmite and tahini. I don’t even know what marmite is. I’m going to mention it at next week’s OB checkup but I’m guessing it’s just another of those annoying, unimportant symptoms that will go away immediately after giving birth thanks to the mommy amnesia.

Wait, what was I talking about?

I guess the good news is my hemorrhoids aren’t nearly as bad as last time. Knock on wood.

Advice appreciated.

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And for my very last giveaway of Giveaway Week, the winner of the $25 credit to Becca’s Hugs & Kisses Designs shop is…

#2 Katherine from the lovely blog The Flowers in Her Hair! Katherine, I sent Becca an email so hopefully she can set you up ASAP and you can start TRYING to pick out something to buy. Good luck choosing though, what with the beautiful fabric items AND the prints!

And to all my readers, thank you so much for your participation and your patience with my giveaways. I know some people get totally bored and hate entering and some people LOVE the chance to win free stuff, but it is just so fun to work with great handmade shops I can’t resist. I tried to make them as easy and requirement free as possible, but hopefully you found some new Twitter friends, blogs to read, and places to do your Christmas shopping.

xoxo

Suzanne