Itbert's nest! :)

So, Itbert's room is done! It looks a little busy, and it is... It's such a small space (almost 8 feet by 8 feet... a glorified closet!) and we had so many things to put in... It's not too busy, just busy enough that Itbert can choose whether he/she wants to dream about flying in a hot air balloon, cozy nests, or roller skating birds!

The yellow ties on the stick above the window are something we brought back from China. In sacred spaces people tied red ribbons, yarn, fabric, or even trash onto branches when they prayed. These ties were traces of prayers, proof, or simply a tangible form of the words they'd meditated. I was captivated by this idea when we were in China and wanted to incorporate it into Itbert's nursery. I found this branch tangled in the brush outside our kitchen window. I scrubbed it and brought it in and Dan sawed it to size for me. Then he and I prayed for Itbert and tied a yellow piece of fabric scrap, yarn, ribbon, and yes, even yellow plastic grocery bag pieces on with every prayer. (I love the idea that no prayer is too silly or small) This branch is an visual representation of the prayers we have said, and will say for Itbert. Below are some images of the tangible evidence of prayer we found in China.

36 Weeks and boy are we moving F-A-S-T!!!!!

So, we found out last week that Itbert was turned head up. We tried everything from accupuncture to chiropractory to standing on my head... nothing was working. Itbert was moving a ton but couldn't manage a full turn. We got an appointment at the hospital to see if we were good candidates for an external cephalic version. (manually moving baby into the right position for natural labor.) Unfortunately they weren't able to do the procedure because Itbert and I don't have enough amniotic fluid... and by not enough for the procedure I mean low enough that they suggested we get this c-section scheduled sooner rather than later... we, being not eve 36 weeks at the time, were pretty surprised... they did a non stress test (hooking me up to a machine to monitor baby's heart rate, my heart rate, baby's movements and any contractions I might be having, while laying in a bed relaxing... really non stress). Baby got a big ole' thumbs up for it's performance. I got one too but I must say all the nurses saying "what a happy baby you have there" was more exciting than any positive report for myself will ever be! Long story short, we need to go in for fluid checks 2x a week so they can make sure we stay healthy.

I can't help but think that if baby hadn't snuck head up we'd never have known about the fluid issue and we are just so thankful that we are aware of it now. I'm drinking excessive amounts of fluid everyday trying to get baby as much to swim in as I can. And Itbert, well, Itbert is moving, dancing, kicking, and tickling all day long so we'll know that our little one is healthy. 

Again, this is not the plan we had going into this, but seeing how the Lord is leading our steps it's impossible to feel any kind of disappointment about the changing plans. We feel confident that we are being well taken care of! We can't help but see it.

So, belly at 36 weeks... and of course in the NURSERY!!!! It's not done yet but here are some sneak peeks at Itbert's little nook! (we still have a LOT to do... hanging picture frames, shelves and putting the rest of Itbert's things in their proper places! There are also hot air balloons to come!!!!)

So, we got this old glider from our borough wide garage sale this past fall... it was like every other glider... wooden, synthetic covered and run of the mill. Ours was exceptionally ugly. Soooo, we picked out some fabric from Ikea and when my dear husband brought it to me I realized it was not exactly what I had in mind... but I spend the next few days making a slipcover out of it anyways. It turned out pretty well I think. It's not finished completely... I got a bit of the tealish ribbon to go around the top of the skirt on the chair and the little ottoman. 

35 weeks!!!

So, when we got a few warm days in a row a few weekends ago we decided to paint the "little changing table that could" that we inherited from Dan's Dad's family. It has some really great lines and after a coat of "sea glass" paint it looks like it will fit seamlessly into our nursery! I also painted a few picture frames for the walls of the nursery. I plan to hang them on the wall above the changing table. These past few weeks I've also been working on some paper mache hot air balloons for above the baby's crib. I still have some painting to do but they are coming along...

At our 35 week check up we learned that not only was my blood pressure elevated a little bit, but our sweet little Itbert finally tired of 34+ weeks upside down and has decided to explore a different placement... some would call it Breech! : \  

Because of the blood pressure my midwife decided to put me on modified bedrest... meaning they are forcing me to relax and lay on my side. Exceptions are only things like getting food and luckily going and sitting at a baby shower (on sunday)! Both Dan and I have heard people say "it's not the birth I wanted, but..." and we realize that we just don't want that to be us. Our greatest desire from this whole experience is for Baby and I to return home safely and healthily! We have made an effort to be consciously making decisions about our birth that we are really comfortable with, but we want to see this as it is. If baby stays breech, we have a baby still. Our perspective, hopefully, will be one so thankful we'll have little room for disappointment. I say this to convince myself of this too. This feels like the perfect time to prepare myself for things possibly not going according to plan. I want my heart to be set on doing everything I can to bring home a healthy baby and not on how exactly that will happen. We'll do everything we can... but at the end of the day, we just want a healthy, happy little family!

Baby's head is here!

33 weeks!!!!!

This week Itbert and Dar got some good quality time together! Last time they were together Itbert was still in the "I look like a tadpoley cluster of cells stage". This wonderful long weekend with Darlin' Dar, she was able to feel Itbert kick and move. Pretty sweet! She also helped us turn our nursery walls into their lovely lemony selves.

As you can see from the pictures, our walls started as ugly wallpaper... we soon learned that the ugly wall paper had even uglier wallpaper underneath and a very sweet 60's layer under that... which I would have loved to keep if it wasn't partially painted over with poo-brown paint! We tried to peel... but gave up eventually and did 2 coats of white then 2 of yellow... turns out that was neither enough nor a tolerable color of yellow. We're talking retina burning here people! So... we bought another can in the same color just one shade lighter. It's much better!

 First shade...  TOO BRIGHT!

 making things better!