A Little Comparison...

So, I decided to look up my belly shot from right before I delivered Keller and oh my goodness!!!  What a difference!  This shot was taken 3 days before Keller was born... (at 39 weeks)

Tiny, right?  No wonder I was feeling pretty good throughout my pregnancy with her!  Just so you know that I didn't quite luck out the second go around like I did with the first ....

Ummmm. Yyyeah.  A. Little. Bit. Bigger.  HA!  You'd think by the comparison that I had triplets in there or something!  : )

No more major contractions for today.  All has been fairly quiet.  Ready, ready, ready for baby Brielle to come though!!

I'm in Contractionville

I have been having off and on contractions for the past 24 hours.  They are the worst when I am up and walking about.  I didn't have these pre-labor contractions with my pregnancy with Keller, so they are kinda throwing me for a loop!  I don't know how I will know when I am truly in labor.  I'm sure it will be when they keep getting stronger and more consistent, but still!!  It is hard to plan!  I'm afraid I will be like, "Oh, this is just my pre-labor contractions again." and then not take them too seriously so I don't alert my parents to come in time, etc...  It will take my parents 2 hours to get here, so it is hard to know when to call them.  Anyway, at least my body is gearing up!!  I am ready any time now.  Seriously!  Come now, little one! : )

I finished all of my "to dos" in relation to the baby coming, so am feeling really happy about that!  Here are a couple of pixs showing the girls room now that they have moved in together.  Soooo happy that we found the extra furniture from the same line as Sadie's.  Even if we did have to travel 2 1/2 hours to get it!  I think they really like it.

Aren't they just the cutest?  I love it when they are in a lovey mood with each other.
Sister love is the best!

37 Weeks... Full Term!

Baby Scholen became full term on Friday.  Woo hoo!  The crazy thing is that we started thinking I was going into labor on Thursday night.  I started having some serious contractions and then they became crampy and I couldn't get them to stop no matter what I did.  I tried to rest on my left side and they became worse!  I was in contact with my doula who told me to get into the tub to see if they would slow down then and, sure enough, they slowed down and then stopped.  I can see why everyone raves about getting into the birthing tub when delivering naturally.  It really does slow things down and relaxes you.  I haven't had any intense contractions like that since, but I am definitely having lighter ones here and there.  My body is getting geared up!

On a symptom note... I woke up a couple of weeks ago in the middle of a dream and shot out of bed so fast because I was choking and gagging and couldn't breathe!  I had no idea what it was, but scared my poor hubby out of his mind.  It really freaked me out since I was so dead asleep a second beforehand.  Anyway, I looked it up on Dr. Google and found out that I had just experienced reflux/heartburn to the point that it came up past my throat, giving me the gagging feeling.  I have never had heartburn or reflux before, so this is a new thing for me.  I haven't had anymore of those episodes, thankfully, but I have been experiencing some heartburn in the evenings occasionally.

I am also experiencing a lot of low pelvic pressure and pain in my lower back and rear end.  It cracks me up when I can literally feel baby girl squirming or kicking or something in my bottom!  So happy she is head down!  Dig in, little girl!!

I was so thrilled that we weren't going into labor yet last Thursday because I really wanted the weekend to get some of the last things on my list done.  Jeff drove up to Greenville, SC to pick up some furniture I wanted to add to the girls' room.  I had found Sadie's furniture on Craigslist last year and wanted to match it for Keller since she was now in the room with Sadie.  I have been scouring CL for months and could not find all the pieces I wanted here in Atlanta.  So, I finally found everything I wanted in South Carolina.  Hated that we had to drive 2 1/2 hours to get the stuff, but HEY!, you do what you gotta do!!    And I LOVE this furniture line!!  It is solid wood and is a cream colored, antiqued and distressed.  We had a trundle, long dresser, and nightstand for Sadie and just added a headboard, nightstand, and tall dresser for Keller.  So thrilled I got this done before the baby came!  Pictures to follow once I get Keller's letters painted for her name on the wall (almost there!).

I finally finished Baby girl's room last week!  And, since I promised pictures, I guess I will have to let you in on her name now.... Brielle!  Here are the pictures of her room.

Still need to add the changing pad, but will do that after she comes.  Keller is still using it some!

A friend of mine's sister painted this for us when Keller was born.  I added some pink to it to make it a little more girly!

I had a pillow made, but made the drapes myself.

I painted the letters and then added the wall decals.  I love how it turned out.

We can't wait to meet baby Brielle!!!

34 weeks and approaching 35 fast!

Getting ready to meet baby girl Scholen soon!  I still feel like I have a ton of preparing to do, but don't feel as much pressure to do it all as I did with my first two.  Keller and Sadie are sleeping together in one room now and things are going great.  However, Keller is still in her crib/converted toddler bed and we need to move it into the baby room eventually.  The problem is that we don't yet have a twin bed for her.  I have a furniture set that we purchased for Sadie on Craigslist and I want matching pieces for Keller now since they are sharing a room.  So, I have been scouring Craigslist for months waiting for a bed to become available like Sadie's.  So far, no huge luck.  I am talking with a woman up in Greenville who is selling some of the line, but she is asking a bit too much right now.  Hoping she will come down, but still not thrilled about having to drive 2 hours to get it either!

At my last appointment baby girl was in the oblique position.  She has been there for weeks now, but I THINK she may have turned head down this week.  I have been using the spinning babies website and doing a few of their exercises this past week that are supposed to help spin babies in the correct position.  I think it may be working (or baby girl just decided to move on her own!).  I am beginning to feel a lot of pressure in my pelvic bone area, like I am carrying a bowling ball or something.  lol!

Sadie started school today.  She is in Pre-K and is going 4 days a week.  For me, 4 days is A LOT!  We have only done 2 days for the past 2 years, but 4 is now the minimum they will allow for her age.  AND, she gets dropped off through a carpool line!  Oh my goodness, she looked so old this morning getting out of the car and walking on her own carrying her bag to where she needed to go.  I started welling up!  Here is a picture of her before we left the house.  And of course, Keller wanted to get in on the action too!  In fact, when the teacher got Sadie out of the car in the carpool line, Keller started saying loudly, "Me too!!  Me too!!"  She really wanted to go into the school with Sadie and be like her big sis.  

Not much else to report today.  Just praying that baby girl's head is down and stays down this time.  My OB actually does deliver babies breech and so we have that option, but not oblique or transverse.  That would be a bit challenging!  Our OB is very old school and delivers breech babies all the time.  His reputation is amazing and people come from all around - Tennessee, Alabama, etc... just to have him deliver their babies.  Glad he is right here in Atlanta!  At least I know that if I have to have a C-section, there was literally no other way.

More pictures of room transformations to follow once I get said rooms ready!
: )

32 Weeks!

So, I am officially 32 weeks tomorrow!  Woo hoo!  We don't have to wait much longer.  I am feeling pretty good, but definitely pregnant.  I have been doing water aerobics, which is wonderful.  It always feels good to be more weightless in the pool.  I have also been getting regular pre-natal massages.  They really help with weary muscles. : )  We hired a doula for the birth, so I am excited to begin getting to know her better.  She is coming over to meet Jeff next week.  She is a doula who is also a trained massage therapist.  Grateful that I can use her skills during what will hopefully be a natural birth in the water.

I have gotten into major nesting mode.  Seriously.  It is like the list of home projects that I want to accomplish before this little one comes keeps growing!  We moved Sadie and Keller into a room together a couple of weeks ago after repainting and decorating their room one Saturday.  They have been doing surprisingly well in the transition.  Grateful.  I also repainted the baby room and have been busy at the fabric store getting a crib sheet and pillow made for her room.  Pictures to come!  We also took home my old family kitchen table and hutch from my parent's house.  They hadn't used the table in years and somehow Jeff and I decided it would be great for us because 1) it is solid maple and 2) it can seat up to 12 people when all of the leaves are put into it.  We often entertain large crowds (like his family) and so needed a larger table.  Anyway, the table and hutch need to be updated a bit to work with our decor.  So, Jeff worked on stripping and restaining the table top last weekend.  We plan on painting the hutch and table legs/chairs black.  I will show you the pictures once it is all done.  The top looks awesome though.  So excited that we have a piece of my family history at our house.  I remember many family meals at this table in Cincinnati.

We are also trying to add crown molding into our master bedroom and we also added some nicer door/closet trim into each of the bedrooms.  So, I have a bit more painting to do!  And we only have 8 more weeks (if that!) to go!  Trying not to panic.

I am getting really excited about meeting baby girl, but also feeling a bit of nervousness knowing how difficult the newborn phase can be.  Keller was SO hard.  So. So. Hard.  I just pray that this last one will be easier.  Please, Lord.  No reflux or allergy issues!  : )  I have picked up some contracting work training leaders of small groups out in California.  I worked as a Groups Director at the church we attend here in Atlanta for 6 years and am now working with one of our strategic partner churches.  I only make 1-2 phone calls a week for about an hour each, but am wondering how all of that will work after the baby comes.  Wondering if I am crazy thinking that I can schedule all of these calls around the baby and Jeff's schedule.  Hoping I haven't bit off more than I can chew.  

So, my belly pic...  Let me just tell you that my belly button never turned inside out with Keller's pregnancy.  I think you can see it in this picture!  I am SO much bigger than I was with Keller.  I delivered Keller when I was 10 pounds lighter than I am right now.  And I still have 8 more weeks!  Yikes!  This is the first time I have surpassed my husband in the weight category.  So scary.  Ha!

Hope you all have had a good week!  Love reading all of your updates!

Hi Everyone!

Well, I haven't posted in awhile and felt like I was missing you guys : )  So, here goes some random catch ups!

I am 28 weeks preggo today.  Can hardly believe it.  This pregnancy has been much harder than my pregnancy with Keller.  The hernia is really painful most days, especially at the end of the day.  Fortunately, I found something called a Belly Band that really helps ease the pain.  I wear it a lot, but at times it can get super HOT.  So, I try to wait until I can't bear the pain anymore.  I am hoping that it will not interfere with delivery and that it will go away once I deliver.  I would be so grateful!

I started having the usual "wake up in the middle of the night" horrible leg cramps, but started taking my Natural Calm Mag/Calcium supplement and voila! the cramps have disappeared!  Love that stuff!

I am having back issues and my fatigue just came back like a hammer to the head, BUT you know what??  I am SO very thrilled to be having all of these minor inconveniences to be having our third daughter!!  Our sweet baby girl is kicking me right now as she usually does when I am lying in my bed resting.  It is my favorite part of pregnancy.  I just love the closeness I feel having her right inside of me.

We are working on getting our house ready for Baby girl to arrive.  We have to move Sadie into Keller's room and redecorate.  Not looking forward to all of that, but I'm sure it will all work out.  We had planned on moving into a new house this summer, but decided to wait on selling because in Atlanta it is really hard to find a house these days!  Houses are selling in a matter of days and then you get into multiple offer wars trying to get a new one!  We were so afraid that we wouldn't find something in time and that we would end up somewhere temporary and not have my mom be able to visit and stay with us (she is in a wheelchair due to a spinal cord injury) when the baby comes.  So, we decided to stay put for now.

Hubby and I went on a glorious baby moon last weekend.  My parents live on a lake in Georgia called Lake Oconee and the Ritz Carlton has a fabulous resort there.  In fact, Carrie Underwood got married there!  It is so beautiful.  Anyway, we dropped the kids off at my parents house and took the 10 minute drive over to the Ritz for the weekend.  It was wonderful and oh so hard to leave on Sunday.  It will be the last time we get away together for awhile, I am sure.  I miss my man sometimes and all of the fun traveling we used to do.  All worth it for having kids, but still something I really miss.

I have my first appointment at a new practice that I am transferring into.  It is a midwifery practice and they are the only ones who offer water births for VBAC candidates.  A few other hospitals offer water births, but not for VBACs.  So, I am going to transfer there even though the hospital is like 45 minutes from our house.  Supposedly, people come from all over to this practice - Alabama, Tennessee, etc... so, I guess my trip downtown isn't so bad.  Just hope I'm not stuck in traffic during a super fast labor or something.  Ha!

Have a great weekend!
Tracey

Adoption Lifebooks

I have been wanting to write this post for awhile, but didn't have the book ready to show you all yet.  I finally finished it!  A lifebook is a book for your child that explains some of the ins and outs of their life and adoption.  It is meant to create a "starting place" for you to be able to have open conversations with your child about their beginnings.  Sadie, our eldest daughter, has a pretty complicated birth family and so this book is meant to introduce some of these difficulties in a child-friendly language.

The book that helped me IMMENSELY with this process and terminology can be found here.  The book reviews lots of different scenarios such as children adopted through the foster system, international, and domestic adoptions.  The thing I appreciated about it the most is the examples of language used to explain really difficult situations about the birth mother and family.  It also gives a few full lifebook examples for each of the adoption situations above.  I plan on creating one of these books for Keller as well, but coming up with my own language for embryo donation/adoption.

If it will help you get an idea of what I am talking about, you can view Sadie's lifebook here.  I created it using Snapfish, so if you don't already have an account with them, you will need to create one.

Hope this helps someone!

Ok.  So, I just posted this blog entry and minutes later found another book using a Christian perspective to create a lifebook for your child.  It wasn't out when I first started this project a YEAR ago (things can take me forever sometimes)! You can look at it here.  I am wigging out because this is the part that I always felt was missing from the book I just created, but didn't know how to put into words.  I am going to have to buy this book now too and probably do some editing to my already created book : ).  Grateful to have found this new resource!