Little Shopper

 I am finished with patients in the office until 6 weeks after  baby Mac comes!

To celebrate Cara is hanging out with me and no more sitter.

We spent some time at babies r us while daddy and ryann were at home depot.

Tattoos

With Auntie Devyn in town the girls and her found some neat things at target... like Superman tattoos.

 Obviously everyone got tattoos, even baby Mac!

Progress

Basically the only things I have ready for Mac is ummmm... a crib with a crib sheet. 

Poor guy, stinks to be a third child who is going to share his room with Daddy's office. 

It is okay though, because he is sure loved.

Here I hung a small banner with well wishes from friends who came to my baby shower. 

 His big sisters sure love him too.  Ryann decided to make him a sign so everyone can know where his room is. 

 Rich also hung some pictures, so now I have some decorations, and a crib with a crib sheet. 

 Hurry out here mommy!  I need help making some bedding and a mobile for him.

Summer Time

Now that it is officially "Summer" (haha... that's a joke here in Phoenix) I have decided that I want sonic drinks almost every day. Fruit slushes are the choice drink, but we have also done cream slushes, milk shakes, cherry limeades, and ice cream sundaes. 

Delicious. Happy hour is the best time. 

And I did take all these pictures at stop lights. 

To Do List

As I get closer and closer to my due date I am trying to check things off my list. 

Of course pedicure is one of those things on the list.

These toes are post work and post call... so they aren't always this swollen, but I guess I am almost always on call or after work so in reality they are usually this swollen.

 Ryann was able to join me for a polish change.

Family Pictures

Typical Cara

Family Night

This is the kind of stuff we like to do for family night. Eat chocolate cake, play games, eat popcorn, and watch movies. 

Doesn't get much better than this!

Happy Father's Day

Rich always says that the best cards are homemade. I used to think that was just because he was too lazy to go out and buy a card.                              

 

Maybe that is really the reasons, because in all honesty that is why we did homemade cards for him!

Sorry hun, I blame it on the 5 births I did on Saturday and the being 37 week pregnant thing. 

Ryann made superman on the left, then wonderwoman, then daddy, then Ryann.  

 Cara drew some flowers and a picture of her and daddy. She put mouse ears on herself because she wants to go to Disneyland. 

Thank you Rich for being such a great father to our girls. They sure love you and have no idea how blessed they are to have a  dad who can be there for them anytime. I am so thankful for this job that you have that allows you to be at home to always be there when I fall short. 

I hope you enjoyed your fathers day!

Ry Ry

Today Ryann had to be extra creative. She lost her privleges to use the computer, ipad, phone, or TV.

Yikes! What is a girl to do?

Well, she created a trap for moths, played in the play room, destroyed the playroom, played candyland with her my little ponies, played candyland with her daddy, and pretended to give birth to multiple dolls and stuffed animals. 

Here she is with a stuffed animal inside and she is wearing a sticky belly sticker in order to prove she is going to have a baby. 

She even pointed out where the baby had its feet, bum, and head. 

Blessing Way

This past weekend my midwife and doula threw me a "blessing way."

It isn't a typical baby shower. It was a celebration of me and my pregnancy and this journey to becoming a mother of 3. I had some sweet friends come and share this with me. The majority of us (myself included) had never been to a blessing way. 

Really I had no idea what to expect except they were going to pain my belly with a henna tattoo. 

 It turned out to be a lot of fun. We all got to feel my belly and listen to his heart beat. Then we all made collages of pictures from magazines that I am going to put in my "birth space" at home. They are gorgeous and each one has quotes about pregnancy, motherhood, childbirth, and things to help motivate and encourage me during my labor and birth. 

After that I got pampered. Henna on my belly, a foot massage, braids and flowers in my hair, strawberries, and much more. 

 We also had beads that will be turned into a necklace for me. These beads all represent one word that my sweet friends wished to bless me with for the birth... words like, "love, peace, flow, energy, happiness, etc." it was really fun to see what my friends were hoping for me and my birth experience. 

It was a lot of fun and I am having a blast with my giant belly being all henna tattooed!

Reading Corner

Make way for baby means lots of household projects. Sorry Rich. 

Here he is putting together the "reading corner" for the girls.

 Ryann has already asked every question that can be asked about this spot:

"If we get a book when we are supposed to be in bed, what will happen?"

"If we take out the stuffed animals when we are supposed to be in bed, what will happen?"

"If Cara tries to read when we are in bed, what will happen?"

"If we don't clean up each night before bed, what will happen?"

"If Cara tries to sit on my spot, what will happen?"

Do you think our lesson for family night was on choices and consequences?

36 Weeks

This entire pregnancy I have felt that this baby will be born very close to his due date. I am hot and tired and swollen, but I really do want him to stay in until July. There are so many things to do and so many things to get done and I know that babies are so much harder on the outside than they are on the inside!

Plus, the lack of sleep I am not looking forward to. 

Don't get me wrong, I am very excited for Baby Mac to join our family and everyone else is too.

 With that being said, I thought it would be really fun to remind Rich that anytime after next week, he is safe to join our family, since he will be "full term".

Rich didn't think it was so fun. After church all he could ask about what what was left to get ready for him, what did we need, is there some sort of checklist I can put together for him, etc. 

Ready or not, the countdown has begun. 

Peter Piper Pizza

Ryann got a free pizza from Peter Piper Pizza through school. She was so excited that she kept praying that we could go to Peter Piper Pizza. It finally wore us down, so we went and let the girls go to town. 

Little Miss Cara Kay has had a lot of my pictures lately, (sorry Ryann) so here is one I snapped of her after picking out her prize.

Good thing she is cute, because the food there... not so hot!

Hopefully we won't have to go back until next school year when Ryann gets another free pizza. 

Anxiously Awaiting

I am anxiously awaiting the rest of my maternity photos!  Well, family pictures really, but throw a few in of my big belly and I am excited!

Anxious for baby Mac? Nah, he can wait inside and cook a little longer. I might be changing my mood come some 110+ degree weather, but for now, we both will stay inside.

Baby Mac's Room

My sweet cousin Mallory is a graphic designer. I love what she does and makes. I found some samples of cute monster prints on etsy and told her what I wanted and this is what she came up with!

 I love them and I printed them out last night and framed them. 

Now I just need Rich to hang them on the wall. I normally would do it, but the furniture is all in the way and my big ole belly won't let me reach that far. 

After that is done I have to do it get his bedding together and we will be set.

 The countdown has started.

About 5 weeks to go!

Cara's reward

Cara massaged my feet the other day and I told her that if she did I would let her put on makeup. 

I let her go to town. 

All Rich could say was, "Does mommy know you were putting on makeup?"

I knew, I just didn't care.

Pregnancy Update

I haven't been the best pregnant lady recently. I don't want this to be a pity party even though it might sound like it. I really just want to remember what is going on in this pregnancy in case I think I want to get pregnant ever again (???)  Remember when I got pneumonia? And I knew that I needed to rest in order for myself to recover from it fully?  Yeah, well I did and didn't and it came back.

I started on a second dose of antibiotics and WOW! those things kicked my butt. Now I hate prescribing antibiotics for most of my patients because I know that it can have some negative effects on the body. However, I do prescribe them when needed.  

I had no idea what the antibiotics would do to my body. Around day 3 of the antibiotics I started to get a weird rash on my legs. It didn't itch, wasn't raised, no one else in the family had it. I ignored it. Then the next day my ankles started hurting. Both of them. I figured I walked wrong or strained myself some how. The next day my wrists started hurting. 

Now I know I have put on some weight, like 30 lbs,  (YIKES), but not like the 55lbs I put on with Cara, and this had me confused on why I was hurting so bad. Over the next few days my knees, finger joints, elbows, and finger joints started to hurt. It hurt to walk, open doors, write in patients charts, and especially going up and down the stairs. I was in tears some days because of this. Since I was moving so much less my feet and ankles started to get swollen which added to the pain. 

During this time Devyn came to stay with us. She was a life saver. She rubbed my feet and ankles, she pampered me, she made sure I didn't cook or clean, she got me water, and basically she gave Rich a break from having to do all of these things. I also tried everything I could think of to feel better. Heat, ice, baths, massage, chiropractor, and rest. Nothing was making this better. I also have tried to eliminate the sugar from my diet (hardest thing in my life!!) but no relief in sight. 

 I consulted with some other midwives, my dad, and the OB that I work with. While I still thought it was the way the antibiotics were reacting with my body, I was a little scared that it was something else. I haven't ever dealt with a patient who has had this severe of joint pain... I mean I have patients with back pain, sciatica, round ligament, headaches, calf cramps, carpal tunnel, swelling, etc... but not bilateral joint pain all over their body. We ran some tests for lupus and rheumatoid arthritis and thankfully it all came back negative. I did have some elevated white blood cells which show I am trying to fight some sort of infection, but we just haven't figured it out yet. And I don't know if we ever will.

So for more than 2 weeks I have been having this pain and I am starting to accept the fact that it isn't going away during this pregnancy. I have had a blessing and I know I will be fine, but for now I am just doing palliative treatment. Before I can get out of bed every day I massage my feet, knees, wrists and sometimes elbows (some days they don't hurt)

~~~~I wrote this post a few days ago and now today I am happy to update that I am starting to feel better!!  I have been still using my essential oils, massages, and stretching a lot, but the past 3 days I can say I have improved. Still not 100%, but so much better than I was. Finally I think the antibiotics are clearing out of my system and my body is starting to get back to its normal pregnant 35 week self. ~~~