My last "Large Sunday" !!!!

We only actually made it for Sacrament meeting today.  There were three reasons.  #1 we didn't want the kids going to primary and nursery and picking up a germ two days before William is born.  They wouldn't probably show symptoms yet but would be contagious and that would not be fun.  I guess we're a little paranoid since Hailey got RSV when she was 6 wks.  #2 I wasn't sure how Matthew would do in Primary.  I think we'll wait a week or two to see how he adjusts to public situations before requiring the teachers to handle his hearing loss.  I need to know how to help them help Matthew first.  He did great in Sacrament meeting today, by the way.  We just had to remind him a LOT to whisper.  #3 I am just too uncomfortable.  I picked up food poisoning somewhere friday night/early saturday morning.  Finally around 5:30 am Saturday Curt took me to the hospital while my parents watched the kids because I was having contractions and I was worried about the health of william with me puking so much and being so dehydrated.  They put me on an IV and gave me a medicine to help stop the puke.  The contractions stopped after a couple of hours on the IV, so that was good.  They kept me there until about 11.  The rest of the day I was a lot better, just really weak and lazy.  I was pretty bummed we missed yard sales :)  All summer Curt and I have really enjoyed that together!!  Plus I was super annoyed that I got robbed of my nesting day.  I had all sorts of plans for Saturday to clean and organize and get ready for William, since monday will probably be a crazy day with Matthew's MRI and ENT appointments and such.  I still did a little bit but it's going to be a mess when I leave unfortunately.  Hopefully I'm not in the hospital for too long.  It was 28 hrs with Hailey from check in to check out.  We'll see though.  At least I have all the basics ready!

I can't believe it's less than two days until he will be here!!!!  We are all so excited!

I just really hope he's still a boy.....we gave away ALL of our baby girl clothes....

38 weeks

One more week until the c section!!!!!!!!  When I had 3 weeks left I remember being like "ugh it's going to take forever!!!" but nope.  Now I feel like I am scrambling for what little time I have.  I still haven't gotten all of our clothes out of his packn play in our room.  It's a hard habit to break, almost 3 yrs of throwing clean laundry loads in the playpen to wait for a time that I can fold them.  Now I'll actually have to fold my laundry almost every day.  blah.

Not a very flattering picture....but you're focusing on the belly anyway, right?  Pretty much all I do lately is ponytail and basketball shorts.  I mean I have the basketball belly to go with it, so why not?  

Other than Curt's large comfy tshirts I rotate between about 3 of my shirts that still fit me.  My belly has never ever been so huge!  Matthew and Hailey were little 6 lb babies, but I'm thinking this guy is going to be more like 8.  or not but I do feel big.

We are very excited to have William finally come!!!  I have no clue as to what he will look like, and I can't wait to be surprised.  hopefully c section and recovery go well and we're all healthy and happy.  I have a doctor's appointment on thursday so I'll probably post some more thoughts then.  Right now I'm actually battling a little case of the flu or something.  I think Matthew brought it home from kindergarten because he wasn't feeling well today either.  

carseat recover

I sold our old infant carseat back when Hailey turned one because it was a set with the single jogging stroller.  I have known I needed to replace the carseat for a long time now but just never found a good one.  They are soooo expensive brand new and you can never find one that hasn't expired used that's in descent shape and for a good enough price.  And then we finally scored a nice carseat at a yard sale last week for $10 with two bases and over a year away from expiring.  The cover left much to be desired....plus it was pink...so I thought what the heck.  I'll try it.  recover project commence.

pink with light and dark pink butterflies.  First I tried dying it because Curt thought that might work.  It didn't.  I didn't think it would but I tried it to appease him :)  But that was no harm done because I already had the leftover dye from the onsies and I planned on recovering it anyways.  So....Then I got to do the fun part.  I unpicked it all, made myself a pattern form it and had a party.  It took wayyyy longer than a skilled person would have taken but I thoroughly enjoyed the process.  The canopy was the hardest part.  It didn't actually match the carseat.  I didn't get a picture of that for some reason but picture poop green with maroon polka dots and a bit of plaid.......it was awful.

Before

 And AFTER!!!!

When I brought home my fabric choices and tried to explain to Curt what I was going to do he just kind of looked at me like he thought I was crazy and hoped I didn't make our baby boy look like an outcast.  haha    

good news

results from my last lab test showed that I am immune to toxoplasmosis and CMV!  (CMV is what matthew was born with and why he is deaf in his left ear).  I told Hailey that the kitties won't get william sick and she started squealing "yay yay yay hold kitties all the time!"

33 weeks

I feel so happy to be in the 30's!  But I still feel like I have forever to go, even though it is only exactly 5 weeks 5 days away from today!!  Oh I love planned c-sections.  Downfall : his birthday will be sep. 11th....kind of a day associated with negative things.  But good thing is we will be able to remember his birthday easy and William will probably think they are putting up flags just for him on his birthday for a while until he gets older.  Time for me to get down to business and start really getting ready for this guy, but my energy level is so low all the time!  I get to the top of the stairs and just want to go lay on my bed instead of do whatever it was I went up there to do. haha   I get compliments from some people and insensitive comments on my large size from others.  pregnancy sure makes people feel like they can say whatever they want to you, even strangers.  I don't feel that huge, but I know I am.  I'm already making weight loss goals!  Food is the ever enemy though.  Always hungry, never can find what it is that will hit just the spot.  I've had a huge sweet tooth lately and that's not good.  I'm trying to limit myself so I don't gain too much more weight.  I've heard that the more sweets you eat the more you want to eat.  But tonight I made a killer awesome chicken alfredo.  pasta makes me happy.  We switched bedrooms with the kids...again.  We switched when I was pregnant with Hailey to give the kids the bigger room to fit everything.  Since then we've acquired more furniture and the kids sleep in a bunk bed, so they actually take up less space.  So for Curt and I to fit everything including william's bassinet playpen we had to switch back and give us the bigger room.  Curt was so kind to oblige.   It was a tooooonnnnn of work.  Took an entire day to get everything in order.  In fact more than one day I guess, the second day was mostly just odd and ends though.  Makes me nervous for when we ever do move out of this place.  The next day I was exhausted.  I like it a lot though, and so do the kids.  Not sure how that works out, but their stuff organizes so much easier in the smaller room.  True that I did eliminate a HUGE bag of toys in the process....

Anyway here's the pictures.  Today I thought I'd document different angles.  

 You see my toes?  I have to lean over to see them!  Sadly they don't get as much beautification as usual because I just don't notice them daily!  That tells me I need to sit down and put my feet up more often so I see them and notice when they need to be repainted.

 And I can't forget the belly button.  I think it looks more like a nose.  Or the stem of a pumpkin.  Maybe for next post I will draw a smiley face on my belly and take a picture of that.  haha, just kidding.  I won't scare you with that!  My skin is a road map of veins.  It's so crazy how the veins increase and enlarge to supply a good amount of blood.  But at least no stretch marks on the belly...yet.  

31 weeks

 There was only 3 weeks between doctor's appointments this time, and I go back again in 2 weeks!  I can't believe how fast this is going.  I seriously still sometimes forget that I am even pregnant, which is weird because I am larger and more uncomfortable than ever but I think I am just too distracted with other things.  Sometimes I feel really bad for this little guy because I don't dwell on him all the time like I did Matthew and Hailey.  But I don't worry too much because he will get PLENTY of attention once he's here!  I gained almost 2 lbs since last appointment, which I think is pretty much on track.  I hope it's like the last two pregnancies though and I stop gaining weight the last 6-7 weeks or else I'm going to go over my goal :)

I also completed another project!  This one was super easy because I planned and figured everything I needed to that made it a challenge when I made a new boppy cover for Hailey.  I love how it turned out though.  And I did a better job this time.  Tears were shed by the little girl for her pink pillow though!  And then I showed her all of the cool things her pink cover could be instead (like a shawl, a bonnet, a skirt...) and that ended the tears and made her laugh.  

And since the picture exists, I might as well post it for entertainment.  I can't stand this picture though, not so much because I've got funny tanlines and a HUGE belly, but because I'm standing so slouched!  ugh, that drives me nuts.  So there you go, me and baby at 29.5 weeks (in my non maternity swimsuit from last year. eh, it works.)

Little project #1

I finally got started on some of the projects I wanted to do!  

I had a whole bunch of white onsies 0-3 months so I decided to take some of them and make them more interesting.

First I had to wash the bajeebers out of them and try all sorts of methods to make them white again.  These onsies must've been through a war :)

I got them mostly bright, well, bright enough.

 And then I got brave and I DYED them! I was really nervous to dye them but with a little help from Matthew, we got the job done!

 In fact I liked it so much I did TWELVE!  hahaha  but 4 of them are 3-6 months

 And now I'm doing fun things with some of them like this...

I think they look a lot cooler in person.  The colors are richer than they appear in the photo.

28 weeks

Third TRI MES TER!!

Baby William is now an eggplant.  Information tells me that he should weigh babout 1.5-2.5 lbs now, but I'm just going to go ahead and say he's a whopping 20 lbs.  (Because I don't want to admit that the majority of that is actually my thighs)

I had the glucola test.  I love that drink.  No, I'm serious.   Really sweet to the point that it's almost fizzy sweet orange crush.  That's what it tastes like to me!  But I did notice that so much sweetness kind of upset my otherwise empty stomach by the time we headed to the doctor an hr after the drink for the blood test.  and I PASSED.  No gestational diabetes for me.  Which is awesome.  Because Curt was giving me a really hard time since I like me some candy!  

Also for the first time ever that my blood has been tested I was not anemic!  Yay for Raisin Bran!!!

Cravings:  still cheesey gooey warmness, lately I've really loved fruit, milk (after eating my raisin bran in the morning I usually refill my bowl with milk and tank it), NUTTY BARS (they are heaven), and sleep. haha

I went through the baby clothes tonight and I got so baby hungry seeing just how SMALL he is going to be!!    I'm still having a hard time picturing life with 3 kids and how I will juggle them all day.  Lucky for me I married such a good man and I know things will work out fine.  Getting a little nervous about the Cesarean.  Just thinking about having the stitches in me and the tenderness of the incision makes me a little woosey.  I'm worried also because there's no possible way that the recovery could be as amazing as it was the last two times.  I just can't be that lucky and it scares me to think of the alternative!  The date isn't set yet, but should be scheduled at our next appointment.  Sleep is still kind of difficult.  It takes me a long time to fall asleep and then I keep waking up with restless legs.  SUCH a pain!  Sometimes taking a warm bath before bed helps, but most of the time nothing helps!!!  It's especially difficult now because Hailey is going through a phase where every morning around 4 am she crawls into our small Full size bed with us and says "scuze me, scuze me mommy I wanna lie here."  just like that.  And squiggles her little way in between us so I'm pushed to the very edge.  I am trying to break her of it though.  She has always had this obsession with rubbing my ears when she's falling alseep and lately it is just too much for me!  So I usually say "mommy's too big for us to fit like this now, time to go to your own bed" and I carry her back to bed, give her a water sippie and leave.  MOST nights she'll stay in her bed but frequently she'll wait 10 minutes and start the whole thing over.  Ugh!  as if pregnancy sleeping wasn't hard enough.  Luckily she still takes 2 hour naps every day and I can usually catch about an hour of that for myself on the couch (or actually in bed if Curt is home) while Matthew watches a movie.  My "mask of pregnancy" is getting darker and more annoying the longer summer goes on.  hopefully it fades quickly and completely afterwards.  I LOVE the way Matthew and Hailey talk to my belly as if they already know this child!  At the doctor's office the OBGYN asked if we had any questions.  Matthew's hand shot up and the doctor says "yes?"  Matthew says "uhhh, well I don't really know WHY there is a baby in my mommy's belly, but I am going to love him so much every day!"  I laughed so hard!  I love my kids and can't wait for this little one to join us!

A little more than twenty four!

24 weeks!

Baby is the size of a Cantaloupe?  I always have a hard time with their fruit/veggie descriptions of baby's size.  Cantaloupes are very spherical.  I doubt this little guy is built quite like that.  But I get the point, same weightish, same lengthish, my belly pokes out about that far (or farther)...But really. 

My belly has POPPED OUT!  I love to hear people say "oh you're so tiny" because it just makes my day that they would try that hard to be so nice to me.  hahaha  because I KNOW that I am not.  Weight gain?  yeeeeeeahhhh.  like 15 lbs already.  And it is mostly hips :)

No stretch marks yet, but I think that this kiddo will be my first experience with em (on the belly at least.  Like I said, I put most of my "motherly love" on the hips and buns so they are no stranger to a little give and stretch)

I'm still having a hard time getting my exercising groove back (refer to previous weight gain comment).  It feels like plenty to go up and down those dang stairs as much as I do.  

I am always hungry!!!!  Still loving MEAT AND CHEESE.  And rolls, but that's been my weakness all my life.  Let's not even discuss chocolate.  

That love comes from a long line of genetic inheritance.

WATER!!!  GIVE ME WATER!!!

I am one thirsty lady!  I can't imagine how it will be in August when I am sweating to death.  It is already getting hard to sleep at night because my legs get so restless, which I am sure I can attribute to not enough water.  I still nap whenever I can.  Hailey is in a glorious 2 to 3 hour nap phase and Matthew loves the 1 1/2 hour down time while I sleep and he watches a movie.

My irritation?  Directed solely at my "mask of pregnancy" DANG IT.  Dark spots on my forehead, nose, and cheeks do not make me happy.  I wear sunscreen every day and it isn't helping.  I wonder if it is normal but the rest of me tans ridiculously easy too.  Like frighteningly so.  Yesterday it was cloudy the majority of the HOUR we were outside and I came in with a farmer's tan.  I would be happy if I were still 16 and dying for the "perfect tan" rather than 26 and fully aware of how bad skin cancer can be!

I shouldn't complain at all though, pregnancy has been good to me.  Curt already can't even remember me ever being sick in the beginning!  I mean I remember it yeah, but I am sure it was more mild than 80% of pregnant women.  

I love to feel him kick.  I like to compare how each of my children moved inside of me.  Matthew would push on me and just sit there pushing for probably as long as his teeny arms/legs would allow it and I would have this painful knob sticking out.  Hailey was a slow roller.  She just rolled and rolled and gracefully swished along.  It actually tickled sometimes.  Yeah it got more painful when she was bigger, but not as painful as with Matthew.  I am not looking forward to the last month movements with this baby.  He likes to SLAM fast and then he pauses, and then BAM fast and another pause.  Quick, powerful movements. 

I daydream sometimes about what he will look like, obviously.  I waver between thinking he will be another little Matthew and thinking he will be all his own, because to me Matthew and Hailey really look nothing alike, except their chins and foreheads (I think they look like mine).

We think we have a name picked out.  Well, first name for SURE (we have known that for a long time, like since we started planning for Hailey) but maybe middle name now.  Curt's sold on it but I'm not as sure.

William Crew Coates

I really NEED him to have a middle name that starts with C just because by coincidence Matthew's and Hailey's both do (I didn't even realize the significance of it until recently, we didn't plan it to be like that).  Curtis and Colette.  And since this is our last baby, yes yes...topic for another day, he'd better go along with it too.  Curt's done trying to pick a name.  He just wants to leave it there with Crew.  but others on my list:

Carter

Carson

Cory

I think Carter may be my favorite, but Curt likes Crew better.  hahahaha that's a tongue twister.

Enough Rambling, we're doing great, baby's healthy!

Just a few projects!

I love Pinterest.  I've found some pretty amazing ideas on there for cute things for baby boy!!



Any of these ties I think it would be way fun to make matching with a regular tie for Matthew. Maybe even a bow for Hailey!  They don't mind matchy-matchy when they're little, right?!

 These leggings are interesting, they're made out of adult socks!  Fun!

 I found this tutorial on how to die white onsies really good.  I hope it works because I have a bajillion white onsies I'd like to maybe make a cuter color.  And these felt guys are supposed to be ornaments, but I think I will make something similar for the mobile.  I doubt he'd care if he stared up at pink butterflies and ladybugs, but Curt would be more comfortable if it were manly!  haha  And the sleepers at the bottom are out of adult t-shirts!  I think I could do that!  I remember being so excited that I was having a girl when I found out with Hailey because I really wanted to do so many projects, but I am finding out you can do all sorts of crafts for boys too!  (I still have a ton I always want to do for hailey, though.)

*Disclaimer- I may not get to any of these projects....but I hope I can!

It's a.....

The View From Up Here 20 1/2 weeks

Thought I'd better post my 21ish week picture!

We had the big mid pregnancy gender reveal/see if baby is healthy ultrasound last Thurs!  We found out if baby is a boy or girl but due to lousy weather I haven't been able to do the reveal photo I have in mind. Tomorrow will be good weather I hope and we will get a chance.  Most family already knows.  No spoilers!   Good news is baby is healthy as can be.  Doctor/Bishop Evans told us this is such a boring pregnancy!  :)  Boring is so so so good!

I was ridiculously nervous going into the ultrasound.  I have had all sorts of fears but it turned out better than I could have hoped for ;)

Feeling baby move regularly.  YAY!  Not as much as some I guess at this point but I found out it's because baby's placenta is anterior (between baby and my skin) so that gives it a buffer.  I will be grateful for that as baby gets bigger (If it stays like that.  technician said it could flip) except for the dances on my bladder.  That is no fun...no no fun.

Cravings:  anything meaty, hearty, warm, carby, and CHEESY I go for!  Late night snack I would much rather a big bowl of  lasagna than anything else!  Obviously I rarely can give in to that one (but I have once or twice!).  

16 1/2 weeks

baby is the size of an Avocado!!

Baby can also hear our voices now. We've been doing lots of talking to this little one, especially Matthew. He really enjoys rubbing my belly and saying things like "oh you're so cute little lovey baby! When you come out I will hold you all the time and mommy can hold Hailey"

I have felt movements a few times, but mostly late at night and especially if I am taking a bath. This is such a relief to me because I never felt a single movement with Hailey until 21 weeks and I was freaking out! One less thing to worry about this time!

Although I still find plenty of things to worry about!! At my appointment the doctor listened to the heart beat for a long time with a strange look on his face. When he was done he said "well I thought the heartbeat slowed for a while but sometimes 10 seconds can seem like eternity baby is doing fine" Since then I have had late late nights up worrying about everything from heart defects to the umbilical cord being wrapped around neck, arms, legs...cutting off circulation.

Our Ultrasound appointment is SET!!!

May 3rd

we find out BOY or GIRL

I kind of want it to be a girl but think it's a boy

Curt would rather it be a boy but thinks it's a girl!

Matthew KNOWS it's a boy

chinese gender predictor test said BOY

but that's foofah

Hailey has no preference.

What do you think?

My morning sickness is GONE (unless I forget to eat regularly)

I have energy back (as long as I get to nap in the day while Hailey naps and Matthew is at preschool)

Exercising has become fun again!!! Especially biking the kids in the trailer around town. It is recommended to not bike after 20 weeks....how important is it to follow that recommendation? Riding my bike and pulling the bike trailer with my little babies back there is by FAR the most desirable exercise I could think of. If I'm careful and I am easily able to balance etc. is it necessary to stop right at 20 weeks or can I keep riding until it's uncomfortable?

One main concern still is our Health Insurance. I applied for Medicaid but got denied because our savings is too high! FRUSTRATING!

we're coming up with options to solve that dilemma and going to reapply though.

Happy We Are!

ps my forearm I have noticed is kind of freaky. It doesn't look like that in real life!

POP

The meat is definitely not done...but my belly button has already popped. 15 weeks!

Making life easier

Some husbands do the really stinky dishes for their pregnant wives...

others come up with methods to help the wife still do the dishes herself!

I'm just kidding of course, Curt does the dishes sooooo much. But this one particular night he was busy and I had to get them done and they were making me gag. I'm so sensitive to smells right now. I'm sure that I'm not the only case of this. He walked in the door just in time to see a massive gag and he asked me if I was dying! haha. so then I said no, I just can't take the smell so he told me to tie a rag around my nose and then he proceeded to tape it on real good so I wouldn't smell anything!! He's so funny! Helpful in his own way.

And then of course Matthew wanted one too.

Sometimes you just have to do what it takes to get the job done!

13 weeksish

tomorrow I will officially be 13 weeks. It kind of looks like I am sticking my belly out in this picture, which is comical because this time around I am more self conscious than ever of the "too much lunch" belly. I can't wait for month six when it is obvious that I am pregnant and I don't have to worry about people wondering if I'm pregnant or just a good eater! Not that it really matters what people think, but you know.

I don't really have the morning sickness anymore which is GREAT!!!!!!!!!! I still get nauseous if I get hungry. I get hungry every 2 hours! but if I eat right away something small I can usually fend off any sickyness.

I'm excited for this child of course, but the other day when curt and I were looking at belly pictures of women at 38 weeks on parents.com I got so much anxiety. Getting that big is just so strange. It's amazing what our bodies do. I'm not looking forward to the swollen face and sore back and skin stretched so tight. So strange. So uncomfortable. So unavoidable. So selfish to feel this way.

But over all this will be soooooo worth it!

and this is the last one so I just have to keep thinking positively!

Baby of Mine

ultrasound image at 8 weeks

Another baby is on it's way to the Coates family! I am now 12 weeks!! We are so excited to have this little spirit join our family. It's interesting how sometimes you plan things, and you think that it's your plan but then as it continues on you realize that it's not your plan at all it's really the Lord's plan. well that's YOU little baby! But ready or not here you come and you are going to be loved so so so much!

• 8 more weeks until we know if you are a boy or a girl!
• Making me sick is not cool. Not cool little lime.
• Weight gain is actually on track. I was nervous at the first appointment but not now.
• Matthew is soooooo excited (you're going to love Matthew, he rocks)
• Hailey is pretty awesome too...hopefully she won't pinch you or scratch you too much! (I'm hoping she's out of the bullying stage by the time you get here)
• You will be a c-section baby just like brother and sister
• We keep praying you are healthy and happy!!

LOVE,

MOMMY