Weeks 37-40 With Baby Rubiks

38 weeks

Whelp, we made it to fully cooked.  Not sure how I feel about it (honestly), since I really hoped to deliver before 40 weeks, but it looks like I keep 'em gestating longer. 

:: Symptoms ::

A lot of the aches and pains I've been feeling over the last month (hips mainly) have actually gone away, and I've felt more comfortable physically, which is weird. Lots of contractions, but nothing sticks. Heartburn kicked back up, as did my hunger. Lastly, I have started dilating quite a bit - I was up to 5 cm at my 40 week appointment.

:: Movement ::

So for those of you who don't know, one of the reasons for needing a c-section with Dellie was because she was posterior, or "sunny side up" (along with other positioning issues), and so I've been quite paranoid about where this girl is settling. She does also prefer to be more posterior and hang out on my right side. It's forced me to do a lot of praying for her to be in a good position for delivery, since I keep realizing that I can't force her into with my crazy contortions and exercises. She continues to be a strong mover, and I have gotten to feel what I'm pretty sure is practice breathing over the last week (which is really cool!).

:: Worst Part ::

Honestly, I had my hopes set on a February baby and delivering before 40 weeks. So when leap day came and went, I was definitely pretty discouraged. The pressure of having a baby before 41 is creeping up, and I find myself struggling to believe that God will provide a spontaneous labor and VBAC for us.

:: Best Part ::

I had an ultrasound at my 40 week appointment, and it was really fun getting a sneak peek at this girl doing her thing - not to mention hearing that she is doing really well inside me.

:: Dellie ::

Dellie once again asked where babies come out, and after quickly googling an appropriate answer for a 4 year old, I broke down and told her they come out mommy's bottom. Thankfully that was the answer she wanted and I didn't have to go into any more detail.

Until after my 40 week appointment.

Because I'm dilated to 5 cm, my midwife is willing to break my water to induce labor if I don't go on my own at 41 weeks. Dellie suddenly has become very concerned that I'm going to go to the hospital to "break my water bottle," which is just about the saddest thing to her in the whole world. So it's been a process trying to explain that babies live in a balloon of sorts that needs to broken so that her sister can be born.

:: Hubby ::

I think he's also getting a little nervous because we are getting closer and closer to 41 weeks. We've had to have a lot of conversations about what we're comfortable with as far as inductions go, and where we draw the line between trying our darndest to have a VBAc and not being dumb.

:: Looking Forward To ::

Having this girl be born. I'm just really ready to be done, to know how this delivery goes, and to have a healthy baby girl in my arms.

Weeks 33-36 With Baby Rubiks

Guess what?

IT'S BABY TIME.

Whaaaaa....?? Crazy, I know.

This last month was pretty great - spoiler alert, we did make it to San Diego for that weekend trip, and I think we're all pretty ready for this little girl to make her debut.

:: Symptoms ::

Sleep is same - wake up, roll, go to the bathroom, wake up husband on accident, whisper yet another goodnight to each other, and repeat in a couple hours. Energy is starting to go away, and I covet the nap I take almost everyday. However, heartburn is lessening and ribs kicks are becoming a thing of the past - this girl is low enough I feel her hiccups in my rear end. So weird, so funny, so much one of my favorite things (Dells did the same thing, and I thought it equally funny). I also have been getting less hungry as a whole too, which is weird. What else? Braxton hicks out the wazoo, and even a some contractions every so often.

:: Movement ::

Baby girl's latest thing is trying to exit through my belly button with the use of her feet. Let me tell you something - it hurts. Like a whole lot. She's staying head down, but had decided her favorite place to rest her back in on my right side or against my spine. Neither positions are exactly ideal for coming out when the time comes, so I've been trying to encourage her to rotate to more delivery friendly positions with some pretty awkward and weird body contortions. She is now big enough that I can make out the difference between a foot, a knee, or a rear end, which is pretty fun.

:: Worst Part ::

The phase of what's called prodromal labor began these last couple weeks. Basically that means I get contractions that show up for a couple hours, make me start thinking it might be time (!!) and then magically disappear for a couple days. I'm glad I was prepared for this to happen (same thing happened with Dells), so while the eventual let down is discouraging, it hasn't been driving me nuts in quite the same way it did last time around.

:: Best Part ::

San Diego, by far. We took a short (and I mean short) trip over the first weekend of February and had a wonderful time. Museums, gardens, parks, the beach, and a lighthouse. What made it so magical was that Dellie was an active participant in the trip, instead of just the kid we drag around in the stroller. She loved doing each and every thing, and we came home exhausted, yet so thankful we made it happen.

:: Dellie ::

She asked the other day how babies come out.

Oh boy.

I ended up telling her that mommies went to the hospital and doctors helped the baby come out, and she seemed pretty content with the answer. But she obviously kept thinking about it because two days later she told me that she was pretty sure her sister was going to "come out this way" (pointing to my stomach) "and up through your mouth." For now, I think we'll just leave it at that.

As a whole, she's pretty excited for her sister to come, although I think it has more to do with the fact that her Granny will be coming out to play with "all day long." We moved her bed around this last week to start adjusting her to sharing her bedroom in the next few months, and she was really bummed when I told her we weren't setting up the crib just yet. She loves helping matching baby clothes for me, which means a lot of re-organizing them afterwards (cause I really don't think the yellow newborn bloomers are actually going to work with the yellow 9 month dress).

:: Hubby ::

I think we have a name picked out! I gave Josh free reign on the middle name, and so far his choices have been pretty good, save "Dragoslava." Whether he's truly serious or not about that one, we'll never know ;) I think the reality that another girl is joining the ranks is sinking in more and more, which has been a bit intimidating for him. But I think he's done a pretty fantastic job with the first one so far, so I'm pretty sure he'll adjust to being a girl dad again quite well.

:: Looking Forward To ::

I'm really hoping the next baby post is one with our little girl in our arms! I realized that I keep imagining her looking exactly like Dellie did when she was born, and the reality is she may very well not. It's sort of a surreal experience having a reference for what she may look like, but also that this girl isn't going to be another Dellie - she is going to be her own self. So I'm definitely excited to see what kind of little person we get the privilege of being parents to!

Weeks 29-32 With Baby Rubiks

:: Weeks 29-32 ::

This month was still just as busy as last month, but thankfully a little less stressful :) We celebrated Dellie's birthday, caught up on tons of projects that have been waiting for a a long time (some since we got married!) started the month of visitors (different ones coming in every weekend over the month of January), and Josh began work at his job. Its been pretty fun as a whole, but I think this family will be ready for some down time before baby girl shows.

:: Symptoms ::

Well, I am starting to definitely feel like I'm carting around an extra 20-25 pounds at this point. Slower, rolly-er, a little lumbering at times. Sleep is still a little tough with needing to roll every couple hours for my hips' sake. Heartburn has also shown up something fierce and likes to remind me when I'm hungry or chose to eat something I probably shouldn't have (like pizza, or mexican for two meals in a row). I had a few days where milk sounded like the tastiest thing on the planet - that craving disappeared as quickly as it showed up. And while we're on the subject of food, when I get hungry, I get HUNGRY. Some days I do a better job of choosing healthy snacks. Some days, it's leftover cake, 'cause birthdays.

:: Movement ::

Rubiks spent the first half of this month flipping between breech and head down every other day, sending me into waves of panic each time I found her the wrong way.  Thankfully she has decided to stay head down, and spends most of her time working on my posture - feet in the ribs whenever I slouch or bend forward to grab something.

:: Worst Part ::

I finally got a cold. Preggo sick is no fun sick, because you can basically take... nothing for it.

:: Best Part ::

I apparently get my super energy at this point - like waking up alert at 5:30 in the morning, ready to go, no naps, get ALL THE THINGS done. I love being this productive.

My other favorite thing is in the category below :)

She's a keeper.

:: Dellie ::

This girl has started giving her little sister kisses and hugs every night before she goes to sleep.  It's been just about the sweetest thing, especially since I was starting to think Dellie just wasn't going to get into showing affection to her mother's stomach.

:: Hubby ::

Starting to get really excited, and starting to realize just how few weeks we have left. He has talked seriously about trying to pull a weekend jaunt San Diego for a last family-of-three trip, and I'm really hoping we can make it happen.

:: Looking Forward To ::

We have a couple more visitors coming out over the next week (which I'm looking forward to) but I am also looking forward to slowing down a bit, focusing on getting our world ready for baby, and taking time to enjoy this short time left of just the three of us.

Happy 4th Birthday, Child!

....What a year. In case you haven't experienced a three year old, they are a trip. A wonderful, hilarious, trying, confusing, beautiful trip.  This girl was no exception.

We took trips around the neighborhood all spring...

Making our favorite stop to the purple orchid tree, along with every single flower along the way.

She took to naming each and every one, my particular favorite being the "yellow cornflowers."

We took a trip to Palm Springs in March...

Where Dellie has a blast visiting her grandparents...

Along with visiting each and every flower she found along the way.

In May, she took her first trip to Disneyland...

Where Minnie became a new family member and oh, what a trip it's been ever since that character has become a household name.

Minnie has traveled everywhere with us since then...

and has been a mouse, a bird, a kitten, a granddaughter, a best friend, and at times a terror for us parents.

In July, Dellie began the journey of becoming an older sister...

and while we're still waiting for the two to meet face to face, it has been a trip watching her figure out what it means to have a baby growing in Mommy's belly and what life will become with a little sister.

This last fall has been a trip of figuring out boundaries and freedom appropriate for an imaginative and curious little girl.

She has taken us for a trip with her imaginary worlds - playing princess, space ships, going to school, being Minnie's grandma...

with her blossoming skills in writing, pre-reading, tricycling, crafting, storytelling...

along with arguing, debating, and seeing just how much she can get away with.

We love you, Goob! Every wonderful and frustrating and lovable inch of you from your curly "yellow" hair to your Minnie Mouse light up shoes. We can't wait to continue seeing the little girl you're becoming!

Christmas 2015

I decided this year that it was a sign I was a real adult when my response to the question, "are you ready for Christmas?" became "as ready as I'll ever be this year."

This year's Christmas season was really fun in a lot of ways.  It was Dellie's first year of really understanding how Jesus fit into the whole season, and was very much excited and impatient for Christmas day to arrive the whole month.

We also did spend the month waiting impatiently ourselves for either a job to show up or some divine help knowing if we needed to pack up our lives and move into our parents' basement.  Thankfully, the answer came just in time to be a wonderful Christmas present - Josh did get the job here in Phoenix we were hoping for.  We found out December 22nd, and it will be a really good fit for where we are at right now. It's a contract position that will last through May (just enough time to have a baby), and pays almost double what most of Josh's fellow graduates are making out of college (just enough money to afford a baby).  We are really relieved and see how God has taken care of the details with this job and what it will provide for us over the next few months as we transition into the workforce world and into becoming a family of four.

So, Christmas! We did do some fun things even though each day we found ourselves stressed to the noggin not knowing what our future was going to look like.

There were three things we wanted to make happen over the month - gingerbread house making, seeing Christmas lights, and going on a snow hunt.

Gingerbread houses were just as much of a success with Dellie this year as they were last year. I was also smart enough not to plan the mass sugar intake right before nap time. We got to do them with my parents as well as some friends, making it all the more merrier.

And we went and saw Christmas lights not once, not twice, but three times! Our first excursion was to a park up in Scottsdale that also doubles as a train museum.  Dellie was beyond herself when she saw a real train completely decked out, and loved taking a train ride through lighted scenes of all sorts of Christmas-y things. We did learn a valuable lesson - don't go to a popular Christmas event the last weekend before the holiday - you will have to wait in line for a very, very long time.

The second and third Christmas light excursions were to neighborhoods throughout Phoenix that pride themselves on going completely all out, including a walk through one backyard that is turned into the story of Jesus' birth. Dellie's favorites were one house that added a third story castle and another neighborhood that offered horse-drawn carriage rides up and down the street.

And, of course, no Christmas of ours is complete without a homemade tree! This year we went simple (easy up, easy down) with a yarn made one along with a few treasured (and lightweight) ornaments to hang along the string.

Christmas day was another small, low-key sort of day (like Thanksgiving) with a lot of opening gifts, skyping, and making a mini Christmas dinner.

It was precious watching her gasp after opening each and every present.

Our gift to Dellie this year was a whole slew of flowers for her to kill grow all by herself. Getting to paint all the pots her favorite shades of pink, purple, and yellow was an added bonus.

Helping make Christmas breakfast waffles with Dad. Sideways glances included.

One-upping our bacon-wrapped Thanksgiving turkey with a propane-torched ham. It was delicious.

And lastly, we finished off the Christmas trifecta with a trip up to Flagstaff the next day. It was, unfortunately, not as snowy as we were hoping, and we were delayed over an hour on our drive by two traffic accidents on the road and a combined 30 minute line at the McDonald's bathroom/order counter. The icy cold wind we experienced more than made up for the lack of powder, and we still were able to do some sledding and have a snowball fight with the leftover snow. It was truly wonderful for us adults to experience below freezing temperatures again (we both are ridiculously fond of all things winter and snow), and we were tickled that our Hawaiian born, desert raised daughter is developing just as much of a fondness herself.

Someone was kind enough to leave an intact sled at the park for us ;)

The rest of the season has been been spent getting our world ready for a whole lot of changes coming in 2016. We've been cleaning out closets and storage and getting wardrobes ready for jobs and growing bellies :)

How was your Christmas? Hope it was also a wonderful time!

Weeks 25-28 With Baby Rubiks

:: Weeks 25-28 ::

It's officially third trimester time! I can hardly believe its 11 13 weeks (sorry! preggo brain!) or less until we meet this little girl. This month was pretty eventful with my mom getting hospitalized, Thanksgiving, graduation, waiting for job potentials, and figuring out what on earth we were going to do about Christmas. It wasn't exactly my favorite last few weeks (honestly, it was really stressful) but it's been encouraging to see God carry our family through it all.

:: Symptoms ::

Heartburn is definitely kicking in more and more, mid/upper back pain every so often (I had to whip out the support band a couple weeks ago to help out on the worse days), braxton-hicks, not great sleep still, and waking up most mornings with achy hips and shoulders. I'm also starting to accidently run into things with my belly, like countertops and such, which is both hilarious and painful. The more fun symptoms have been stronger movements and being able to make out which part of her body this baby is poking me with. 

:: Movement ::

The crazy dances have definitely been exchanged for more purposeful, stronger, and in some ways slower movements. She's also become more responsive to loud noises, caffeine/sugar and getting poked and prodded by yours truly.

Sugar drink for the glucose test. Yum.

:: Worst Part ::

I had the glucose tolerance test done at 27 weeks, and while thankfully I passed, the process to get it done was incredibly frustrating.  I had to go to a lab to take the test, and what should have been a one hour test turned into a two and a half hour ordeal between poor communication, the wrong lab request form, and pretty awful customer service.

I've also been struggling with a lot of insecurity about weight gain, running out of shirts I can fit into, and whether I'm doing enough to prepare for a better delivery this time around. It's all stuff that I know truth about in my head, but emotions have been higher, making it harder to be peaceful about all of it.

::Best Part ::

I realized that this time last year I was getting ready for surgery to get rid of the cyst and wondering if I would be spending the next holiday season still hoping for another baby. It makes me so incredibly grateful for this little girl's existence and how far our world has come in a year.

:: Hubby ::

Josh changed our computer's wait mode from black screen to our photo album, which has meant seeing a ton of photos pop up from when Dellie was a baby. All the nostalgia is kicking in hard - we are getting more and more excited thinking about having a new baby in the house again. We were talking with Dellie about how her sister would be here next Christmas, and that she would probably be about 9 months old then.  Josh looked up and smiled and said, "That's going to be really fun - she's going to be in such a fun age this time next year!" 

:: Dellie ::

She's still dead set on her sister's name being Margaret and likes to poke my belly button while exclaiming that "it's a foot!" She's also decided she has "a little brother for Minnie in her belly" and likes to stick out her stomach to show how much bigger her stomach is getting too. 

She asked the other day if her sister will chew on all the Christmas presents next year. We will see kid, we will see.

:: Looking Forward To ::

The new year! I flip-flop between extreme excitement and sheer terror realizing that every day is coming closer to her arrival. But realizing come January, its countdown time to get life ready for being a family of four!

Graduation! ... And the Future...

Looks good on him, doesn't it?

After 3.5 years of full time school (including most summer school sessions), this guy is finished with a Bachelor's degree in Film Making Practices with a couple of minors in Business and Theatre.

Whew.

The weekend was a pretty fun one, with my parents coming out (my mom barely made the OK to be released home from the hospital/rehabilitation center) to join in the celebration.

We started out the weekend by seeing "A Year With Frog and Toad" in musical form at the Childsplay Theatre here in town.

Dellie was really concerned about the prop trees looking scary at first, but as soon as the lights went up and the singing began, she had the time of her life. We all really enjoyed the play, particularly the part when the actors were throwing crumbled cookies all over the place :)

The favorite treat of choice by Dellie's grandpas is a good old fashioned strawberry milkshake. Without fail, she will get at least one opportunity to down a milkshake with either Gramps or Papa, and this trip proved no exception.

The sugar kicked in quickly and we soon found ourselves with a straw-in-mouth preschooler howling like a wolf inside Ted's Hot Dogs.

And in true form, the weekend wasn't complete without something going wrong - this time it was a bout of sickness that took both Dellie and Josh down the day of his graduation. So while he looks really excited in the top picture, Josh was actually rocking a serious fever and feeling like death. (Dellie was pumped full of tylenol to help her survive the ceremony, which thankfully she did with ease).

Life gave him the flu for graduation. Our small group gave him a half-eaten cake :)

The only question left is, what's next? Well, we still don't know. We are currently waiting to hear back on a potential video editing job here in Phoenix, but the company is having a tough time getting communication between the hiring manager and HR to happen, so we've been left not knowing if Josh has the job or not for about two and half weeks at this point, with no clue how much longer it may take. Our prayer is that we would hear (one way or another) before Christmas. It's been pretty frustrating feeling like we're being strung along, but it fits with the one clear thing we have heard from God as we have prayed about what to do and where to go next:

Just be patient.

So we're continually realigning our frustrated hearts and checking our finances and finding that God is here in the middle of this confusing mess. He's providing for us physically and spiritually, and meeting us each time we choose to face him instead of our circumstances. It's not the December we were hoping for, but we believe that we are in God's good plan.

So please pray for this job to come to a conclusion soon for us.  We would like it if Josh was hired at the place we are waiting to hear back from. And pray that God would continue to provide for our needs and continue to show Himself as a good father and as a sustainer of our spirits as we wait for the next step.