multi-purpose!

well fancy that. . .this big ol' belly can come in handy after all.  who needs a night table when you can simply stash your water bottle on your belly?

and the update for today:  tomorrow i will have reached the 34 week mark.  considering my mom delivered my sister (her first, but not favorite child) at 34 weeks, i've started considering that this baby could really come any day now!  so, for that reason, we installed the car seat bases this weekend.  we put one in each of our cars just in case.  i also started packing my hospital bag, but didn't get very far.  i have a very limited wardrobe at this point. . .so i really can't pack anything yet because then i couldn't wear it.  and then i'd have nothing to wear!  but i have a list and started putting some stuff in the bag at least. 

had another NST today.  my OB popped up and surprised me.  she does that if she happens to be at the hospital when i'm there.  it's always a nice surprise.  today she proclaimed that my baby has become "the best baby on the block!"  she said she's looking stellar.  a month ago when we started these tests, it would take up to 3 hours to get a good enough reading. . .but now we're getting it done in 30 minutes to an hour.  our baby is smart.  she just needed to know what they were looking for, and now she gets it done quick!  we go in for an ultrasound tomorrow and we expect that to go well as well.  will be interesting to see how much bigger she's gotten since i've been overloading on the protein.

Christmas and New Years were both very mellow around the Hamilton estate.  let's just say we proclaimed "Happy New Year!" at the same time they did on the East Coast (ie: 9 pm Pacific time) and we were asleep shortly thereafter.  but we did have a delightful dinner at Morton's just the two (er three) of us.  i have a feeling next Christmas and New Years are going to be VERY different.

very much looking forward to 2011 and the wonderful new adventure that awaits us.  and looking forward to all the visitors who will be coming from new and far to see our new addition.  feel free to start booking your spring travel now.  we'll still have a guest room. . .right next to the nursery complete with up-all-night screaming baby.  sounds enticing doesn't it. . .

pink and polka dots

i'm starting to think i should rename this blog "my pink and polka dotted world" because it seems to be what it's coming to.  i'm overflowing with pink and polka dotted baby clothes!  but i'm not complaining.  i've had so many wonderful people pass along wonderful baby girl hand me downs (shout out to my sister-in-law Melissa, my friend Amanda and Adam's good friend Craig).  and i've had a great time washing, sorting, organizing, folding and hanging them all.  our closet runneth over!

as for me, all is going well, but i'm getting huge! 

here are the stats:

weeks: 32 weeks on Tuesday; only 8 more to go!
weight: 145 lbs (about 25 more than I started out with)

waist: 38.5 inches!
belly button: still in, but much smaller and sometimes the top edge bulges out a bit
current cravings: everything! especially grilled cheese and soup, ice cream, smoothies and chocolate chip cookies
mood: overall good, but starting to get anxious
health: the acid reflux continues to torment me all day, every day, but since stepping up my water and protein intake, all appears to be good with Baby H.  i continue to visit the hospital twice a week for NSTs.  although it's tedious, it's always nice to hear her heartbeat and receive confirmation that all is well.  saw my OB yesterday and she said everything looks good, but wants me to remain on bedrest until further notice.
movement:  she moves nonstop!   her head is down and she's sideways with her little back laying up against my right side.  so i think i feel pretty much everything she does.  i also feel hiccups occasionally and i watch in awe as my stomach moves and transforms from the outside with what appears to be an alien trying to break on through.
footwear: no longer wearing shoes that require tying.
classes:  Adam and i have been taking a birth class on Tuesday nights.  we completed the series last night!  we also completed a breastfeeding class last Saturday. our hospital tour is this Thursday and our final class is next month and will teach us all about taking care of our new infant.
current tasks: with the quickly approaching birth, there is still much to be done!  i'm just working my way down the list.  (i come from a list family.) we signed up for life insurance this past week.  started our pediatrician interviews and have a goal of packing the hospital bag by Jan. 1.

in other news. . .just opened the Christmas box that arrived this week from Kansas.  my mom and sister always send us a big box of gifts.  and since Adam and I don't really exchange gifts, it's fun for us to have some fun little things to unwrap on Christmas day.  my sister included some of her special recipes all ready to go.  she had all the ingredients in each bag for french bread, bean soup and chocolate chip cookies with instructions attached. 

all i have to do is add the perishable ingredients (like butter and eggs), mix and cook.

i love this concept!  well we couldn't resist baking up the cookies and they are delicious!

and someone in my tummy is knocking around big time now right now.  i think she's requesting another cookie. . .so i better go get her one!!

and i thought all men got excited about boobs

well i stand corrected.  i just yelled out to remind my dear sweet husband that we had another of our many pre-baby classes tomorrow.  he asked which one.  i said breastfeeding.  he was silent.  i said aren't you excited?  he said not really.  i guess boobs aren't always that exciting, eh?  but he'll go, and like it, because i say so.  and because he's a good boy. . .er man.

the update

so i said i'd give you an update and i'm going to stay true to my word.  and it's good news, so that makes it easy!

so i went into the hospital for my first NST and BPP yesterday.  my appointment was at 2 pm.  i got there at 1:30 to be safe.  i called beforehand to see how long it would take.  they said only about 30 mins to an hour.  wrong!  i was there until almost 5!  this was particularly unfortunate considering i had an event i was working last night and was supposed to be there at 4.  factor in taking Adam home and then getting back on the freeway and diving right into the heart of rush hour traffic at the prime hour of 5:30.  correctomundo. . .i did not arrive at my event until 6:15 and that was actually making pretty good time!  thank goodness for my business partner Rachel who took the lead in my absence.

anyhow, here's what went down.  first off, the testing is done in the Women's Pavillion of the hospital where i will give birth.  we had never been there, so it was nice to start getting acquainted with the place.  and we had a good experience.  it's clean and nice and the nurses and staff are all very friendly and helpful. . .so far.  so after check in, we had to wait for about 20 minutes before they called us upstairs to begin testing.  as we sat waiting, who should appear but my lovely OB Dr. Perlow.  she was rockin' the scrubs and had just delivered a baby boy to a woman who was 37.5 weeks along and whom she said had been having similar issues as me.  the baby was perfectly healthy albeit a tad bit early.  so that was good to hear.  it was nice to run into her.  she gave me a hug and some additional reassurances which is always nice.  just love her.

so they finally get us upstairs and they put me in an actual hospital room in an actual hospital bed.  they hooked up a fetal heart rate monitor and also a monitor that checks for fetal movement.  the monitors track the baby's heartrate and movement at the same time to ensure that when the baby moves her heartrate also increases which is also indicative of her being well.  so we were well underway with this monitoring when the BPP guy arrived with an ultrasound machine.  so he unhooked the other monitors and did the u/s part of the test which checks for various movements, breathing and fluid levels.  in all, it checks four things and you either receive a 0 (bad) for each or a 2 (good).  well i received all 2s for a grand total of 8, the highest you can score.  hooray!  and my amniotic fluid had gone up from 8.3 cm to 11 cm.  double hooray!!  i guess all that water drinking is working.  good thing, because it's not much fun drinking all that water when you have acid reflux as bad as me and all the water keeps trying to coming back up.  blah!  but i'll do what i have to do.

so then we had to go back to the fetal monitoring and just wait while it collected all the data the doctor would need.  unfortunately it took way too long. . .but fortunately i at least had a TV to watch.

so now i just keep doing what i'm doing. . .drinking 80 ounces of water a day, eating 80 grams of protein a day, spending a lot of time in bed and spending as much time as possible on my left side.  it's a good thing i really like my bed!

in other news, my middle has expanded considerably.  it's getting pretty difficult to do everyday tasks such as shaving my legs and tying my shoes.  comfy slip on boots have become the most convenient shoe to wear and my lounge pants are the standard pant of choice.  as of yesterday, i look like this. . .at 30 weeks and 2 days.  only 9 weeks and 5 days to go!

today

headed to the hospital in a few.  ultrasound on monday showed my amniotic fluid a little on the low side and baby's tummy a few weeks behind in growth.  a little scary, but nothing too out of the ordinary considering how sick i've been throughout my pregnancy.  so i'll be doing NST (non-stress tests) and BPP (biophysical profiles) twice a week at the hospital to monitor little baby Hamilton and make sure she is OK.  also on moderate bed rest and have been told to increase my water and protein consumption.  so that's what i'm doing!  we are currently at 30 weeks and 2 days and everything else looks good, healthy and right on track otherwise.  we started our birth classes this week. . .3 hours each tuesday night from 7-10 pm.  definitely keeps me up past my bedtime, but we already learned a lot just in the first class.  and not to say too much negative about the other couple in our class, but let's just say they make me appreciate my husband and my relationship even more than i already do!  feeling very blessed about everything.  Adam took some new pictures of my belly today.  i don't have time to upload them now, but will try to do so soon.  now i've got to go eat some lunch and try to get this little peanut squirming up a storm before the testing (they say that helps).

toodaloo

the city of brotherly love

One of my dearest friends got married last weekend to her long-time boyfriend.  The wedding was in Philadelphia where they've lived for the past six years or so.  I've visited them there a few times over the years during trips back to NY.  But I had never gotten to take Adam along and thoroughly explore the historic city.  We were fortunate to have amazing weather the whole time we were there and the fall there is just awesome.  The colorful trees and falling leaves against the historic buildings and cobblestone streets is about as charming as it gets.

Our travel day was Adam's birthday.  He was a trooper about spending the majority of his day cooped up on an airplane.  He was rewarded handsomely with dinner that night at a cute little Italian restaurant called Porcini culminating with his most favorite dessert, tiramisu.  He probably could have done without the waiters singing, dimmed lights and candle that left all eyes in the restaurant on him.  But that wouldn't have been nearly as much fun!

Here we are all cleaned up and heading to the wedding.

The wedding had a lovely fall theme with orange gerbera daisies, pine cones and candles adorning the tables.

There were many of my oldest and dearest friends from the Portland era of my life in attendance.  This is my friend Berit, whom I met my freshman year at KU, and her husband.  Berit is one of my best friends in the world and the whole reason I ended up on the west coast.  It was great spending time with them.

The bride and groom both glowed with happiness and love.  They are currently honeymooning in Jamaica.  Wish I were there!

The highlight of the night for this preggy girl was the announcement that the bride and groom were cutting the cake!  Shortly after, I sent my husband to look for a piece of cake for me, but he soon came back to report that the cake was just sitting there, with no one preparing it for cutting or serving.  Most other guests were not concerned, but I certainly was!  So I sent my husband back on a mission to get that cake cut!  He did not disappoint me. . .and here is the fine young lad who hand delivered two pieces of cake just for me.  I only ate one piece.

Oh what a happy girl a piece of cake makes!

Once the cake kicked in, I was ready to dance.  And dance I did, belly and all.

The final day, we had several hours before our flight and decided to take in some of the history and culture of the city.  First stop, the Liberty Bell.  You know how many times they rang the Liberty Bell before it cracked?  One!  One measly time.

Next we visited Elfreth's Alley, popularly known as "our nation's oldest residential street".

It was a darling little street with pumpkins on every stoop and sleeping cats in the windows.  Crazy to think people still reside in these historic houses built in the early 18th century.

Wandering around this quaint Old Town area, we stumbled upon many random anomalies which we couldn't resist.

Historic figures were everywhere. . .

And we did our best to blend in.

Overall, a fantastic voyage filled with friends, food and fun.  Three of my favorite things!

hollywood nights

so it's true.  i do get moments of the full Hollywood experience from time to time.  last night was no exception.  we hosted a party at the Burton Snowboards store in LA to kick of the winter season and Shaun White was onsite to sign autographs and mingle with fans.  needless to say, his fans came out in droves to meet the Olympic gold medal superstar, lining up down the block several hours before we even opened the doors with everything from his notorious Wheaties box to snowboards to get signed.  but a few of his biggest fans were notorious in their own right.  the littlest Beckhams of soccer great David Beckham and uber "spicey" Victoria Beckham stopped by the store to meet Mr. White in person, skateboard around and get a couple of snowboards signed.  Becks looked on, snapping photos and looking every bit the proud papa.  we had to shut the store door for the few minutes they were there to ensure everyone's safety, but outside, the paparazzi crowded the windows trying to capture photos. 

and i stood by watching it all unfold.  with a full belly.