39 weeks!

One week to go?! Maybe.
We're in single digit days now of our hopeful arrival day, so either way we're very very close!
I'm getting anxious/excited for him to get here, and just meet him.
Daniel has been very anxious about his arrival as well.
Every time I sigh, look mildly uncomfortable, or well just about do anything these days he's asking me if I'm okay, or if I am going into labor.
I think he's ready for this show to get on the road too.
It's just a matter of when...
I am having a lot of pelvic pressure today (and last night), it was very difficult finding a position to sleep in for long. So hopefully that means that more progress is happening with my cervix and what not.
Guess we will find out at my appointment on Wednesday.
We're ready and waiting for you D!

In other "news" Daniel and I went on a picnic for lunch. Nice middle of the winter weather we have here isn't it? It was in the high 70's with a very slight breeze. Good for summer weather but not so much winter. I can't imagine what summer will be like this year if it's already this warm out.
Lunch: Individually jarred sweet tea, chips, apples, sandwiches, peanut butter, and carrots.

My "country" get up.

Just a little bit of progress

Yesterday I actually had some noticeable contractions (pressure wave). They caught me off guard each time and took my breath away for a moment, but I quickly used my relaxation techniques from Hypnobabies and just let it come. They weren't anything long, about 20-30 seconds and I only had hmm maybe 10 all day. We also went for a long walk to Starbucks. It was quite amusing to me I noticed that when I was experiencing a "pressure wave" my walking slowed down immensely! And after it had passed my speed picked up again.

This morning I had another Dr appointment. Since I was having a few "pressure waves" yesterday and a lot more pelvic floor pressure I decided to allow for a cervical check to take place just to see what was going on. Honestly knowing dilation and effacement isn't important. Just because you are at 3cm and 50% effaced does not mean that you will be going into active birthing mode soon, but it is cool to say "hey once that active stage hits at least that is blank number of centimeters that I will not have to progress through". That said I'm at 1cm dilated, 70% effaced, and I think he's at -2 station. (I was able to use my relaxation techniques during the exam so I didn't really even feel anything, where as most women say that it is uncomfortable and they feel a lot of pressure) My Dr could feel his head right there and easily, which made me glad because I had still been worried that he wasn't fully head down. So things are right on track for having a happy healthy baby!

Breastfeeding class tonight. No idea what to expect with it but it should at least be informative.

38 weeks!

Happy Chinese New Year! It's the year of the (water) dragon. Daniel and I have had our fingers crossed that D would hold out on coming till at least today so he would be a dragon, just like his daddy. Yay for listening!

My oh my, two weeks to go. It's hard to believe that it's so close. It's really anybodies guess as to when he will make his debut. He's still ever so slowly gaining more baby fat but I have no clue how much he might even possibly weigh at this point. Which part of me is glad about because if I did know and he was "measuring big" I might start freaking out about having to birth a "big baby" and consider being induced early "to avoid him getting too big". Which I don't want either of (the induction or the fear).

As weird as it sounds I am at the point right now where I look forward to giving birth, it's exciting and unknown. Sure a little scary because when you don't know what you are getting into you are just nervous but I believe that the mind is powerful and that you can set yourself up for success by having a positive outlook vs a often negative one.

Since my last appointment and tattling on D to the Dr about being much more lazy than he usually had been, he has decided to become much more active again. So there has been a lot more rolling and pushing his knees and feet out. Which daddy loves because he gets to play the "grab the feet game".

I can't wait for him to get here and for that next chapter to get started.

Chicken Noodle Soup with Lentils

I have a bunch of sickos in the house this weekend, and my sister asked if I would make chicken soup. So here is what I made and trust me it's super easy!


Chicken Noodle Soup with Lentils (for extra protein)
1 cup celery, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup dry lentils (rinsed)
1-2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, cubed
1/4 onion, chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, sliced
6 cups chicken stock (broth)
2 cups egg noodles

1) Pour your chicken stock (broth) into your pot and turn flame onto medium low heat.
2) Chop up your celery, carrots, and chicken breast and add to your stock (broth).
3) Cover pot with a lid and turn heat up slightly.
4) Chop up your onion, slice the garlic, and rinse off the lentils then add to pot as well.
5) Place lid back on the pot and set the timer for about a hour and thirty minutes being sure to checking your soup occasionally to make sure it is not boiling over.
6) After your timer goes off check to see if your lentils are fully cooked.
7) If they are, add your egg noodles and place cover back on the pot.
8) Allow it to simmer for approximately 15 minutes or until noodles are cooked.
(Add 1 cup of water if you notice that your amount of broth is getting too low. Add more or less of anything you want.)

Everybody (sick and non sick) loved this soup, so enjoy!

Spa Day!

I was treated to a spa day this afternoon (thanks hunny). I went and got a mani/pedi, oh man it was so nice!

The girl really fixed up my nails. Shaping them up and taking care of the cuticles, I also got a nice hand massage, which would have been more enjoyable if the chair I was sitting in moved more so I wasn't having to lean forward so much. Then I got to soak my feet for a while in some nice warm water with some sort of herbal bath salt added to it, and she did up my toes.

After that I was able to choose what scrub and lotion I wanted out of probably 12 different ones. I chose oatmeal-pumpkin-spice for my scrub and green tea something for my lotion. The scrub smelt so good! It was something that I would want to eat it for breakfast if it came as an actual oatmeal! So I got a nice calf and foot massage with that. The girl joked that she would end up putting me in labor from the foot massage, it didn't not even a noticeable braxton hick, but man did it feel amazing! By the way my ankles aren't swollen,but for some reason they seem to look it in these pictures.

I had my toes done in blue so they would be all pretty for when D arrives and I tried to find a nail polish that would match, but it looks more teal on that what it looked in the bottle. In the bottle it looked much darker and a lot more blue than green. Either way I'm happy with it and had a great time getting pampered and relaxing. It will probably be the only time for this to happen before D gets here, then I will have to find somebody to watch him if I want to go get my nails done.

Getting To Know You Hop #2

Time for another Friday of Getting To Know You today's question actually comes from yours truly! "What inspired your blog name?" I think this is a great blogger getting to know you question because the title of your blog is the first thing people see when they visit, it gives them a sense of what your blog is about and therefore you.

Here we go.
If you've followed my blog for a while you would have noticed that the title has changed. When this blog first started it was called "Barefoot, TRYING To Get Pregnant & In The Kitchen". Why? Well because at the time I was still trying to get pregnant. This blog was a way for me to document that (often painful) journey so I could one day look back and remember that "wow I went through that, survived, and am stronger because of it". It will also probably be a good reminder how much I wanted baby D when he is driving me up the walls.
It was a play off of the whole "Barefoot, Pregnant & In The Kitchen" that we so often hear.

Well once I got pregnant the title no longer really fit so I dropped the TRYING threw the FINALLY in boom! Perfect blog name (for me)! I have actually already been asked what I will be renaming the blog once baby D arrives. And I am still not sure. I do not plan to change it too much but it definitely will have to fit with our new life.

So what about you? What inspired your blog name? Follow the link above to link up with others and see what their response was! Have fun!

Inspired by Finn-Baltic Amber Review

I'm not a huge fan of chemical drugs for painkillers, which means that I usually just tough out the pain. And let me tell you when I was getting constant migraines, oh it was just pure misery! Reason being when I would take pain killers they didn't work or depending on what the drug was it would just give me horrible side effects that weren't worth it.
Don't get me wrong, they do have their place and are effective but I would prefer to use a natural homeopathic option to try and help with my pain.

I had heard a lot about "teething necklaces" being used for toddlers/infants who are having pain from teething and it working great for them. But when I first heard about these "teething necklaces" I thought that they were just some sort of chew toy that had been attached to a string that the child would wear around and just gnaw on whenever they were uncomfortable (similar to Teething Bling).
I was, however, very wrong.
These pain management necklaces, as they should more appropriately be called if you ask me, are made of high quality Baltic Amber and are NOT meant to be chewed on. As said there are moms that swear by these necklaces.

Ok, so how does it work then? Well according to the Inspired by Finn shop site when you wear the amber the skin's warmth releases trace amounts of healing oils from the amber. These oils contain succinic acid and are absorbed into the skin. Succinic Acid is a natural component of plant and animal tissues, and it's presence in the human body is beneficial in many ways. It is scientifically accepted that the darkest colored amber generally contains less succinic acid than lighter colors.

So while that's all well and good as far as explaining how/why it works, and I had heard from lots of different women about it helping their children AND others using it for their own aches and pains I was skeptical as to how effective it could actually be. I mean you are not actually ingesting anything like you would with herbal pills or tinctures, you are just setting it on the skin. It couldn't work that fast or effectively... I had to try it and see if it really was as amazing as they said!

Now obviously baby D is not here yet (and I pray that he is not one of those babys that starts teething at 4 months) so I can not try out the amber on him so I was my own "test subject". I have to say that while it does not take away all my aches and pains it does seriously help!
Being in the last trimester with the weeks winding down to a close my back/neck/shoulders have been extremely achy.
Now maybe it is just a mental thing but either way I find that when I have the necklace on my neck/shoulders do hurt less and I feel more loose and (almost) energized! Over all I just feel better than before when I didn't have it on. So I truly believe that baltic amber can and does work as a natural pain reliever and I will most definitely be using it for D when he does start teething!
I am also going to get another necklaces for Daniel because he has wrist problems and I think wrapping the necklace around his wrist a few times will really help.

Seriously I believe that this stuff works and would recommend that everybody at least give it a try, what do you have to loose? You know except for that pain in your neck there.
So check it out for yourself, visit Inspired by Finn and look through their large assortment of youth and adult sized amber or hazel wood. Use the code SAVE during checkout for 15% off your order. You wont regret it!

I ordered the raw (unpolished) multicolor (rainbow) screw close necklace. It's actually quite beautiful and I get compliments on it all the time when out.

Sorry no giveaway this time, but I really love the benefits I have experienced while using the amber necklace so I'm thinking eventually I will have a giveaway and just pay for somebody to have their own so they can fall in love with it too!