Mia's Birth Story

Mia Jennifer Caccamo
 7 lbs, 2oz, 19"
May 25, 2011 at 4:56pm

By now, I am hoping that nobody is learning of Mia's birth for the first time from this blog. However, Brian and I are proud to announce the birth of our daughter, Mia Jennifer, on Wednesday, May 25th, 2011. For posterity, and other people's curiosity, I'd like to share Mia's Birth Story.

On Tuesday, May 24th, I had my final appointment with my OB. I had a morning appointment, but Dr. King was busy at the hospital again, so I didn't end up being seen until around noon. He did an exam, and found that I was about 2 centimeters dilated, but manually pushed me to 3 cm (which hurt like crazy, btw). He warned that I might have some mild cramping and bleeding.

After stopping for lunch at Jimmy John's, my cramps started to become a bit of a nuisance, enough so that I decided not to go into work that afternoon and lay down. The cramps "progressed" and became what I would consider contractions around 3 or 4 pm, and I began timing them at 9 minutes apart around 5. I decided to call Brian at 6pm, so that I could catch him before he left for his softball game that night. I didn't tell him that my contractions had progressed from 9 to 8 minutes apart by then, but that I'd like him to keep an eye on his phone in between innings. No use in him rushing home if the contractions went away, like I expected them to.

By 2 am, we decided this wasn't a false alarm, and it was time to head to the hospital. After gathering some essentials, taking a shower, we headed to Spring Valley Hospital, car seat already installed. Mom followed us shortly afterwards. It was a very busy night at the Labor and Delivery, so I spent the first few hours of my hospital stay in a large triage room which lots of people would periodically walk through. I was at 4 cm dilated by the time I was checked by Cindy, my very nice overnight nurse. She had the exact attitude that I needed, especially since I was so nervous about getting the all the little procedures done (like the IV, epidural, etc.), and the fact that I was still not in my own room.

Dr. Hanson, my very nice anesthesiologist came in and put in the epidural around 5 am. It was every bit as unpleasant as I expected, but Brian and Cindy coached me through and soon enough, I could only feel my toes. My contractions almost stopped once the epidural kicked in, so I was given pitocin after all to speed up my dilation. Cindy put in an internal fetal monitor, which is a little probe that gets stuck to the baby's head, and we had our first clue of what Mia looked like. Cindy had to put in two probes, because the first one got so tangled in her hair that the readings were not coming through!

By the time I was 6 centimeters dilated, they decided that I definitely needed to be moved into my own room. Since there still were no labor and delivery rooms, I was put in a makeshift room by adding the necessary machines/baby nursery/delivery table/bed with stirrups to a postpartum room. It was a bit crowded, but luckily, I wasn't moved again for the rest of my hospital stay.

Once I was settled in my new room, my day shift nurse named Haze started. Brian and I were thrilled to find that she was the nurse assigned to us, because she taught the birthing class which we attended a couple of months earlier. Haze has been a labor and delivery nurse for about 30 years. She was no-nonsense and efficient. Even though she was basically a 180 from Cindy, she was exactly what I needed as a coach during the actual delivery.

Around 4pm, after laying numbly and miserably in my bed for the whole day, I was finally 10 cm dilated. Mom, Brian and I asked whether Dr. King had been called yet, since we assumed he should be there before I start pushing. Haze said that Doctors don't get called until crowning, so we had a little work to do first. Dr. King had already stopped by to check on me a few times, since he had 8 women in various stages of delivery at the hospital at the time.

Apparently, I was unexpectedly efficient at pushing, because after about 30 minutes, Haze urgently called for Doctor King. When he still hadn't arrived 5 minutes later, Haze made a "NURSE DELIVERY" announcement into my call button and about 5 different people came rushing in to "catch" our little girl. Dr. King came in about 30 seconds later, welcomed by a crying baby. Unfortunately, Mia came out with one of her arms up by her face, rather than it staying down by her body as most babies do, so Dr. King arrived just in time to fix the damage. Luckily, it was nothing too serious.

Our first family photo!

At 7 lbs, 2 oz and 19 inches, Mia showed everyone that she was quite a bit trimmer than she was expected to be. She also had a full head of dark hair, very chubby cheeks and an adorable round nose. Our new little family spent the next two nights in the hospital, to make sure Mia was feeding properly and I was healing well. I'll write more on her homecoming in a separate post soon!

7 Days and Counting

With less than 7 days left before I am going to the hospital, it's lucky that my Mom got here on Tuesday. It turns out that even in the midst of my nesting fervor, there were still quite a few things that we did not have. Swaddling blankets! Bath thermometer in the shape of a turtle! (to use in the bathtub in the shape of a whale, of course!) Baby lotion and shampoo! (to ensure that our baby does not lack the distinct baby smell!) Thankfully, I have only been going in for half days since the beginning of this week, and my Mom and I made an emergency trip to Babies R Us to fill up on the final essentials. Several hours and too much money later, my Mom is satisfied that it is safe for the baby to come back to our apartment. We also decided that this baby did not have enough knit/crochet items, so we had to make a quick pit stop at Michael's.

We are really starting to get excited about this baby's arrival... those little questions that we've all had from the beginning are finally going to be answered. Like every parent, we really wonder what she will look like. 1/4 asian babies are all over the spectrum in terms of coloring, from the very asian looking Jon and Kate plus 8 kids, who are in fact, only 1/4 Korean, to untraceable fair skinned kids with light eyes and hair. We'll find out in a week!

On a totally unrelated note, Chipotle has just surpassed its previous levels of awesomeness in my mind by picking my business card out of its fishbowl! My entire office will get free lunch at Chipotle on Monday! For ths first time, I am hoping NOT to go into labor until I can redeem this lunch for everyone.



Attack of the 10 pound baby

Yesterday, I had my birthweight ultrasound. As of May 17, 2011, she weighs 7lbs 12oz. Since my due date is still 2 weeks away, my Doctor said she still had the potential to gain 1 1/2 to 2 pounds, bringing her close to the 10 pound mark. Not to mention any time that I may go past my due date, which in a first pregnancy, is highly likely. If I wanted to avoid a C-section, Dr. King recommends an induction on the weekend before my due date, which coincides perfectly with his on-call schedule at the hospital. So, that's the plan!

I have to wait for confirmation from the hospital scheduler or something like that, but it looks like I will begin my induction the evening of May 27th and have a baby by the end of next weekend!

At this point, I think Brian and I are in the Holy-Crap-This-Is-Really-Happening-We-Have-To-Buy-Diapers mode.

Day 12309823476 of pregnancy

For lack of a better title.

Last Thursday, my co-worker's threw me a mini-shower at work, despite the fact that those to whom I am "related" (to be used according to the loose Filipino definition) are also throwing a baby shower at my Boss's house this coming Saturday. I guess some people from work aren't going to be invited/attending the Saturday shower, so they brought in some subway sandwiches, lots of salt and vinegar chips, and we had a lovely lunch. They surprised me by all contributing to the Pack 'N Play that Brian and I registered for. We added the Pack 'N Play at the last minute, when we thought having one would probably be useful when we go to Chicago in the summer, or if our plans to take an RV trip to Yosemite with my parents come together. Unknowingly, the Pack 'N Play we registered for is top-of-the-line, with all the bells and whistles. I've got very little clue about what all these things are for, but there are all sorts of attachments, a remote control and a little sound machine/baby vibrator. That was the last big-ticket item remaining on our registry, so anything else that we will need should be easy enough for us to fill in our own!

On Saturday, I spent the morning knitting a baby gift for Jackie's friend (now our friends) Kate and Tim. Although they had their baby 8 months ago, there were quite a few medical complications for her, so they are just now celebrating their baby's arrival. We spent a couple of hours at their apartment, where my craving for good Mexican food was satisfied (Tim's family is Mexican) by amazing Tamales with green sauce. They were from a restaurant, so our quest for a Las Vegas mexican restaurant may soon be over. We'll wait until we have the baby to go, so that I can test out the margaritas (the true test of a Mexican restaurant).

I made "Fish on the Line", which is a decoration/mobile made up of several fish knitted in different colors. I bought some jingle bells and put two in each fish, to provide a little extra stimulation for baby Ty. He actually couldn't take his eyes off of it when they took it out of the box, so I think that means he really liked it. The fish twirl around nicely, and I was pretty happy with the finished product.

From now on, Brian's only days off will be Sundays, because of some staffing changes at his branch. So, this Sunday, we had a combination of lazing around watching movies, and obsessively cleaning (as usual). I am hoping this sunday's cleaning fest is the last deep clean necessary before Mia makes her appearance.

I am still hoping for the 22nd, so that our Las Vegas baby shower stays sans-baby, but as of midnight tonight, Brian has given me permission to go into labor, because he will officially qualify for his paid week of family leave. Of course, as soon as that deadline rolls around, my constant false labor contractions will stop.

TGI tuesday?

About 3 weeks ago, on Thursday, I couldn't believe it wasn't already Friday. About 2 weeks ago, on Wednesday, I couldn't believe it wasn't already Friday. Last week, on Tuesday, I couldn't believe it wasn't already Friday. Yesterday, I actually managed to channel my uber-nesting-energy into work, being extra productive and working from 7:30am-5:30pm, even though I was allowed to leave at 3:30 since I started early. This morning, I slept in until 9 am because I had an 11am doctor's appointment, got to work around noon and immediately had lunch. It's now 3pm, so I've been working for about 2 1/2 hours, and can't believe 1) I still have 2 hours until it's 5 pm 2) Tomorrow isn't Saturday. I even caught myself reading the Pregnancy Calendar post for week 38 (which I usually do on Fridays) in anticipation of my new pregnancy week. I had to remind myself that it's only day 2 of week 37. The moral of this story is that pregnant ladies get tired REALLY fast when they are 9 months pregnant, despite these monster energy bursts.

I had my now weekly doctor's appointment this morning. The waiting room misadventures were at a minimum today, except for one lady campaigning for her daughter to be voted Miss Teen Nevada (she was there for a postpartum visit, she had a baby girl with her named Hermione). My blood pressure went up from 118/80 to 130/90. This explains the slight sausagey appearance of my fingers, and the slight mooniness of my face. As long as my ankles and toes don't swell, I'm OK to stay pregnant (signs of preeclampsia would likely require an induction). My uterus actually didn't grow since last week's measurements, so the Doctor actually withdrew his prediction of a big baby. We'll find out next tuesday, when we do the birthweight ultrasound and my first dialation check. OH, and YES, I still have that darned UTI. I'll be taking Amoxicillin until I deliver.

I had another (slightly more severe) case of Nesting this weekend, where I once again took my energies out on poor Swarley. He was innocently shedding all over the carpet I had just vacuumed, so I took him out on the balcony and brushed him for about 30 minutes. When he kept on shedding, I switched to a comb. When that didn't work, I took him into the bathtub and washed him. I promptly took him back onto the balcony and brushed some more. Then, I decided to grab my blow-dryer, turn it to "cool", and blow out all of his extra hairs (probably all over our downstairs neighbor's balcony...). After this 3 hour process... I've got a lovely smelling, fluffy puppy... who continues to shed. But, I'm telling myself that this was not a useless saturday afternoon, because at least the hair he's shedding is now squeaky clean. Right?

This boy is going to miss doing this when the NEW baby comes!

Due Month!

When I got into work this morning, I realized that it was time to flip my calendar from April to May! It's strange to see "Due Date" on the page that is currently opened on my desk. Strange, exciting, and slightly nerve-racking. My mom is arriving in about 2 weeks, and my ultrasound to determine the baby's approximate birthweight is the scheduled for the same day, and we have our Las Vegas baby shower coming up! Also, next monday, I'll officially be full-term, although some websites/books say that I am full term right now.

This weekend, Brian had both Saturday and Sunday off, which is a rare treat. We initially wanted to do a real overnight getaway somewhere in the area, but we decided against it at the last minute. Instead, we planned an afternoon at the Las Vegas Springs Preserve. It is essentially the site of the now-dried-up Las Vegas springs, which was the pre-Hoover dam water source which attracted the early Las Vegas settlers. The "springs" portion is now a retention pond, but there is still a fair amount of wildlife surrounding it. We did the entire 1.6 mile loop of hiking trails (also known as waddling trails, for some of us), saw a bunch of lizards and what looked like desert chipmunks. There were also some gardens which were advertized as "botanic", but they were a bit disappointing. There is  also a little museum and wildlife show, but these were mostly geared towards children. We are starting to learn that all museums or educational exhibitions in the Las Vegas area are geared towards children, which is disappointing when you come from a city like Chicago and are used to the Field, Science and Industry, etc. Overall, it was very nice and we both agreed that we would buy a family membership next summer, when our little one will be walking!

Sunday, I had another case of 'nesting', feeling the need for have every surface of the apartment cleaned, all laundry done, and making the executive decision of no-more-dogs-with-long-fur. Everytime Swarley moved, he got the evil eye for shedding on my just vacuumed carpet. Poor dog. Of course, I say that now, but if we're at a shelter and another long furred dog decides to sit on my lap, that will be the end of my new rule. Just like last weekend, and the weekend before that, I may have overly extended myself and was exhausted and starving by 3pm. I have a feeling this cleaning will only get worse as the next few weeks pass, but that my exhaustion point will only get earlier.

Eureka!

I had a bit of a revelation yesterday when reading another pregnant lady blog. Maybe this is a sign that I am slow, although I will 100% blame it on the very real effect pregnancy has on your brain, but I finally understand why some pregnancy guides qualify me as 36 weeks and others as 35 weeks. This might also have something to do with the whole week to month ratio in pregnancy being totally off (40 week of pregnancy, but 9 months of pregnancy? That doesn't work, since 40 divided by 4 is 10 and nobody says 10 months of pregnancy). And it also explains why some people say 36 weeks is full term, while others say 37 weeks is full term.

So, I've completed week 35 of pregnancy and am technically in week 36, despite being labelled 35 weeks pregnant. I've completed 35 weeks of pregnancy, and am in my 36th week. Yay! I get to skip ahead one chapter. I am not sure why this makes me so happy, since it doesn't put me any closer to my due date than I was before, which has remained steadily at May 30th. But, it's definitely a mental thing.

This past weekend was Easter, and our 1 year anniversary. It was really fun to think back on those few days of wedding related festivities, and I'm not going to be one of those people that says "I can't believe that was a year ago", because, I can't believe that was ONLY a year ago, since things are completely different than they were last April 24th in ways that I do not have to list. Brian and I had a lovely dinner at a seafood restaurant in Henderson called "King's fishhouse" which was somewhere in between Shaw's Crabhouse and Bob Chin's. The food was equally as good as either of those places, but significantly more affordable. We basically didn't celebrate Easter, except the passing thought of going to Mass, then realizing that I had no idea where the nearest Church even was, and remembering the Christmas mass wearhouse/having to watch the priest on a monitor experience, decided against it. Instead, we went to the dog park, which was not at all crowded but super fun. Swarley is slowly starting to look like less of a lazy apartment dog again, and had an excellent time chasing after a few dogs that looked like larger versions of him.

By the way, his reaction to the swing was totally disappointing. I put it together, and he approached it without fear, barely recoiling as it moved when he sniffed it. Maybe once I get some D batteries and make it swing on its own and play music, there will be something more exciting to describe.

Tonight is Brian's second softball game, and this time, I will actually be in attendance. I'll try to dig up the dino-camera and snap a few shots. By the way, Mom, I was thinking a new camera with a nice video capture feature would make an excellent 28th b-day present :)

Las Vegas is one classy city

Yesterday I had an appointment with my OB. As usual, he found the baby's heartbeat within .5 seconds of putting the little doppler thingy on my belly. Her heart is beating strongly, she's in the right position, everything is good with her.

Me, on the other hand, managed to gain 6 pounds in 3 weeks. Now, my weight gain to date has been encouragingly slow. I haven't gained more than 1 or 2 pounds between doctor's visits, which have been more less than 3 or 4 weeks apart. The "normal" rate is 1 pound per week, for a total of 40 pounds, but that is if you were at an ideal weight before getting pregnant. Since I was not at an ideal weight, it is not recommended for me to gain the full 40 pounds. Up until yesterday, I was at +20 pounds. Ok, so +26 pounds is still good for a pregnancy weight gain, especially at this stage (34 weeks, exactly 2 1/2 weeks until I am full term! 5 1/2 weeks until my due date!). 6 pounds in 3 weeks isn't healthy, even if 2 of those pounds should have gone directly to the baby. I'm going to blame it on the entire bottle of water that I chugged before going in, since I anticipated another urine test. Which I did have to do, confirming the result of a "raging UTI" as my doctor put it. That's 2 UTIs in one month, if anyone was keeping track. In 2 weeks, I get the Group B Strep test, which I am not looking forward to, since the pamphlet explains that it consists of violating my privacy (that's as specific as I am going to get).

By far, the highlight of my time at the doctor and hospital yesterday was the waiting room experiences. My doctor was running late because he had been in a delivery in the morning, so my appointment was delayed by about an hour. I had my Kindle (Water for Elephants), and I am glad that my Doctor makes himself available for deliveries even if he has a bunch of appointments in a row, so I absolutely didn't mind. Plus, I was so conveniently seated next to a wonderful example of the white-trash that lives in Las Vegas. A 28 year old woman was there with her sister, and her sister's two pretty cute children. The sister was loudly talking about going to the Tatoo convention, and yelling at her son about having to shave his head (which he was very upset about) because he had gotten gum in it. It was the woman's first visit to this doctor's office, so she was filing out all the pregnant paperwork. She was not-so-discreetly telling her sister that 1) she couldn't remember when her last period was, so she put down "sometime in February". 2) she didn't know anything about her baby's father's medical history, and couldn't call him and ask because he was in jail. 3) didn't know her insurance information (her sister reminded her that she was on Medicaid). Her sister, in between yelling at her 2 1/2 year old son, also kept interrupting her 4 or 5 year old daughter playing a video game on her phone because she was "doing it wrong". Excellent parenting examples.

After my appointment, my doctor recommended that I head over to the hospital to pre-register for my delivery. In that waiting room, I had another delightful sample of Las Vegas locals. An extremely overweight woman, who turned out to be pregnant, was there with equally overweight mother, her 13 or 14 year old daughter, and her 2 year old daughter. She was talking to her mother about how inconvenient it was for her to get searched by the cops last week because she had two vibrators in her purse. She told her mother about how the cops asked why she was carrying two vibrators in her purse, and she explained that "I'm pregnant, as big as a house, horny, single and nobody will have sex with me". She further explained to them that she needed two because one was for "on the go (you know, like in the car and stuff)", and the other was for "prolonged pleasure". She was also there to preregister because her doctor (also my doctor) was going to schedule her for a c-section because her "uterus was liable to BUST", as she explained to the woman doing to her registration. Also, when asked about her marital status, she said, "well, I got married to the father of my first child, but I haven't seen him in 10 years, so I don't know the answer to that question". Sometimes registration questions are hard. On the way out, the 2 year old spilled the entire contents of a bag of Doritos (which she obviously got yelled at for, because 2 year olds should be in charge of holding their own Doritos) onto the hospital floor right in front of the doors to the infant nursery, so my entire time registering was spent interrupted by people's shoes crunching on the chips (which have always smelled bad to me, which is only intensified by being pregnant).

Yes, I am judgmental. I understand people all have different circumstances and everything, but come on! You don't know if you're married? You don't know when your last period was?? You're yelling at your kid for doing kid things, like getting gum in their hair and spilling Doritos? Now I know why all the nice houses are in gated communities.

Birthing Class and Softball

This past weekend, we had our Birthing Class at Spring Valley Hospital, where we plan on delivering. We chose Spring Valley because it is the only hospital in the Las Vegas area that has a Level III NICU, and although we are hoping not to have to use it, it is obviously an excellent selling point. Also, one of my co-workers is a night shift nurse in the nursery and promised that if we chose to deliver at that hospital, she would be the one to prick Mia in the heel for her blood tests, and that she would do it really nicely. The class was great, it was taught by a Labor and Delivery nurse who has been in L&D for 30 years. She also was really laid back and funny. Something I think I would appreciate while I am trying to get through contractions.

We learned that Las Vegas is a medically-conversative town, as far as Labor and Deliver goes anyway, meaning the Doctors and Hospitals are not-so-supportive of sticking by Birth Plans. So if anything is going wrong, there is a pretty good chance of delivering via C-section, or of being given hormones in the event that labor doesn't progress as rapidly as they would like it to. That is not great news, but at least we know what to expect if things aren't going smoothly. There were quite a few couples in the class, and I got the reassurance that I didn't have as big a tummy as some ladies who have the same due date as I do, although I still think my face is above-average in puffiness.

As part of our class, we got a tour of the entire maternity section of the hospital, including the delivery rooms, the recovery rooms, the C-section rooms, and all three nurseries. Everything looks lovely, and actually quite small, so we won't feel like we're in any kind of factory. As long at the babies are born healthy, they are not required to be in the nursery for any more than a couple of hours for their tests and their bath. It's nice to know that Mia will be able to be with us for the majority of time in her first few hours of life. It was great to take the class, and Brian and I definitely learned a lot more than we would have from  just reading the baby books. The nurse-instructor made us promise not to get induced just because we were uncomfortable at 39 weeks, but I crossed my fingers behind my back while making that one. 6 weeks to go!

On a totally unrelated note, Brian decided to join his Bank's softball league. Their first practice was last night, and I went along for the ride (with a folding lawn chair and my Kindle in tow). Brian seemed to have an excellent time playing, and I had an excellent time watching. The next morning, Brian confessed that his arm was a bit painful, and I reassured him that many of the other players were complaining of similar ailments while they were at bat. One had jammed her finger, another twisted his wrist, another his ankle. This is exactly what you get when you bring a bunch of 25+ year old bankers together and ask them to do what they all did at 17 years old, haha. I can't make too much fun, I am sure I would be in exactly the same situation if I had been playing. Next week, the games begin and I will bring a camera. Brian declined my offer to make t-shirts for the team so that they would all match... too bad.

Crafty Weekend

Last week found me getting extremely restless. Even though I am exhausted everytime I spent more than 30 minutes on my feet, I'm no longer content sitting on the couch watching TV. I suspect that this can be attributed to what the baby books call "nesting", but I think it's just a cute way of spinning the fact that women are freaking TIRED of pregnancy by this point. We too big to be comfortable, but the end is still too far to count down to without driving ourselves nuts.

So, I took a trip to Michael's and made a few purchases. I've been looking at the wooden/fabric/paper letters that they seem to sell at every children's store to decorate the half-nursery we have going on (I say half-nursery because it still has a queen bed in it, so it's half-guestroom, half-nursery), and the only letters that I liked the M, I, and the A were from Anthropologie, and (you guessed it) ridiculously expensive. So, I purchased some blank wooden letters, a few squeeze bottles of acrylic paint that coordinate with our Pottery Barn Penelope bedding, and got to work. I also bought some 20 cent wooden butterflies knowing that the 3 letters wouldn't keep me busy for long. I haven't put up the butterflies yet, but those are all done in the same colors, just with varying patterns.  Here is the result:

Preppy designs

Coordinates with the crib, mobile, and bird wall-decals. You can't see the bedding, but I assure you that it works.

Also, I purchased a new knitting book. After looking for a few patterns online for stuffed animals that I could knit myself, I decided that I would buy a whole book so that I could have a few to make, and so that I could make some for other people's babies and kids in the future. To start, I decided on the one called "Flat Ted Teddy". It seemed like one of the easiest, and only required 2 different colors of yarn. I've already finished knitting all the individual pieces, but have yet to put it all together. Pics next time, since I don't want to show an arm-less Teddy bear.

Flat Ted Teddy is the second picture in the left-hand column. Mine is yellow and whilte rather than pink and white.

There are quite a few super cute toys in there, and once I am done with Mia's Teddy bear, I will make Tyler one of the less cutesy grown up ones (like the snake on the cover, or the Bunny in time for Easter!).

Most women do focus their energies during the last few months on doing productive things getting ready for the baby, and I've done my share of it. If I were you, I wouldn't ask Brian how many times I've changed my mind about the stroller we should have. I actually thought about writing a post exclusively about the different types of strollers and asking for opinions, but since nobody comments on this blog (I'm telling myself that doesn't necessarily mean nobody is reading...), that wouldn't be particularly productive (or entertaining to anyone but me).

So that you don't think that I'm trying to give off the image of being productive all the time, I'll leave you with how I spent last Saturday morning, when it was 90 degrees. I even spent all of 5 minutes in the freezing water, despite the baby making plain her feelings on being submerged in the cold water by kicking me vigorously the whole time. She's fine, it was glorious once we got out.

Non-swollen ankles, but I am sparing you (and me) a picture of myself in the maternity swimsuit that I did end up purchasing. My neighbors were not so lucky.

Rounding down to 2 months

According to one of my favorite pregnancy guides, I can round my answer down to 2 months whenever anyone asks how much longer I have to go. Although it is somewhat relieving, it's still pretty deceptive. I regularly read 5 different guides (combination of online form, book form, and iPhone app form) and today (officially week 31), I found myself hoping that one of these guides would say something different, mainly, "It's time to give birth now!". But, no dice. Still 9 weeks until the due date, 5 weeks until full-term.

On a more positive note, the weather seems to have taken a turn for the WARM. Forcast for the week mid-70s to start, mid-80s to end. If the mid-80s keep up, maybe the pool will be warm enough for a swim by the first week of April!

We had a lovely weekend. On Friday, we went to see Limitless at the Red Rock theatre. It was pretty good, certainly very entertaining. Saturday, my friend from high school, Toni and her girlfriend J were in town, so we had a lovely afternoon of hanging out, an evening on the strip, ending with an awesome dinner at a Tapas restaurant in our neighborhood. I am thrilled to have found something decent to eat in our neighborhood. Even though we still haven't found a decent Mexican place, Tapas is certainly a good substitute for now. Too bad I didn't get to try the Sangria! Sunday was the perfect weekend day. After an excellent breakfast at EggWorks (also in our neighborhood! score!), saw Toni and J off, and brought Chloe and Swarley to a dog park in Summerlin. Although there was no water for Swarley, there were plenty of dogs for him to chase. Chloe had a lovely time sniffing rocks and eating grass. After Swarley exhausted himself a bit too quickly, we realized that Swarley needs more exercise than the zooming around the apartment he's done all winter. Good dog owner fail. We promised to bring him to this park more often, we will not allow pregnancy (or later, the baby) to be a valid excuse anymore. We have a baby bjorn-type carrier, that's what they're for!

3 month catch up

I realize it's been over three months since I've posted on here. I thought about deactivating this blog and forgetting about it, but once Baby Girl Caccamo makes her appearance, this might (once again) be a really good place to keep everyone updated.

Brian and I have made quite a few strides towards being comfortable calling Las Vegas home. Although Chicago still wins (except for the snow), our visit at the beginning of this month really solidified to us that we no longer live there. We even visited our apartment and were completely comfortable seeing our lovely tenant's furniture in our former living room. I hope she is as happy there as we were. We still don't have any friends outside of work colleagues though, but we are hoping that will change once the baby comes and I sign up for some Mommy/Baby classes.

Things have calmed down significantly at work since the end of November. I had a bit of a rough patch where I was constantly stressed, felt like I had a million upcoming court dates at once, and my BP was significantly elevated. I will spare everyone the details of what was going on, but I will at least say that we are getting close to a settlement, and even if we don't get there, I'm ready for the challenge.

On Monday, I start week 31 of pregnancy, which means it's only 5 more weeks until I am full term, and 9 more weeks until I am officially due. I think I would go completely insane if I didn't think of it in terms of when I am full term, because 9 1/2 more weeks trying to do laundry with this belly just makes me tired. I am in full pregnancy mode, going to the bathroom every 20 minutes, having to lean backwards in my office chair to have enough room so the Belly doesn't get crushed by my desk, and struggling to pick anything up off the ground. I have started having some Braxton-Hicks contractions, but they aren't regular, so there is nothing to worry about. With that, here is the latest side-view photo. This was taken at week 28, so I am probably already significantly larger than that.

We are fully prepared baby-gear wise, and are even almost all set clothing wise in the 0-3 month category. The only thing we are now behind on are baby bottles, pacifiers, creams, diapers, and the rest of those essentials. I have no idea what to buy in terms of baby bottles or formula since I do intent to exclusively breastfeed for the duration of my maternity leave. But, they do tell you to be prepared in case I am not physically able to for whatever reason. Brian says he didn't marry a woman with hips like mine to have c-section or formula-feed his baby. I'm glad he's so confident. We also have grand plans to switch to cloth diapers once she's big enough to fit into the one-sizes (I don't want to bother with prefolds and diaper covers, it seems like too much of a hassle), and to make our own food once she's eating solids.

Spring is a mild form of summer in Las Vegas, and I won't let the Belly stop me from enjoying the sun. Maternity swimwear, here I come!