I'm going crazy

I'm going crazy, stir crazy.




Is this baby a boy or a girl?




Will Grant have a little brother or sister?




Next year will I be searching google for football birthday party ideas or princess birthday ideas?




When will I go into labor?




Will I go early, before my due date, or late?




Will my labor start in the middle of the night like with Grant or in the middle of the day?




Who is this person inside me?




When are you coming out?

Postpartum Freezer Pads : Preparing for Baby

I've been doing my best to try and have everything I could possibly have to make postpartum a little easier on my body and heal as quickly as possible.  Since this is my 2nd little one and my body went through so much with Grant I figure I might have a leg up on what I need to have prepared. 

When I had Grant I had a perineal tear (pretty standard for most women), a urethral tear (longest heal time ever!), horrible hemorrhoids, and extremely sore nipples.



If that's too much information for you I apologize, I'm just trying to keep things real here.

So far I've made soothing breast pads to keep in the freezer for the sore nipples along with having a stash of nipple cream.  With some goodies ready for the ta-tas I figured I needed to start searching for something for my other region. I started googling, because what else would I do when searching for ideas, and came across freezer pads, or "padsicles".



Most of the tutorials I found used alcohol free Witch Hazel, Aloe gel, sanitary pads, and lavender essential oil.  When I went to the store I could not find any Witch Hazel that didn't have at least 14% alcohol and I really didn't want to order it online.  Had I done my research earlier I wouldn't have been concerned about getting it sent to me before I actually went into labor, but that's the procrastinator in me.



So the other night I stayed up til 12:30 in the morning searching to see if anyone had used the Witch Hazel with alcohol and found this tutorial.  My mom was afraid the alcohol content would dry out my skin down there but multiple people said they didn't have any issues with it.  I decided to trust this and use Witch Hazel I found at Meijer for $3.44.



I bought aloe gel at target for $3.94, does anyone else think this is sky high pricing for aloe?  Maybe I should have shopped around.



Oh well.



I actually read you could just use the aloe gel on a pad and freeze it for a little relief if you can't find Witch Hazel or the lavender essential oil.



The one thing I left out was the lavender essential oil.  I scanned the stores for it and couldn't find any sign of it.  I'm sure it helps but I wasn't about to pay $10 for a small bottle plus another $5+ for shipping to order it online.  There were other women on different blogs I came across that didn't use it and still had good results, so I figured I'd give it a whirl.

Here's everything I used:

I took each pad and unwrapped it leaving the plastic on the back.  Then I took the aloe and just squirted some all down the center.  I didn't want to use my fingers or anything to smear the aloe around for fear of germs.  The last thing I want is an infection in that area.  So instead I used the pad itself and just folded the top down and smeared it around then repeated that with the bottom half of the pad.  Then I took a tablespoon measuring spoon and poured about 1/2T Witch Hazel all over the pad.  I didn't want to "soak" the pad in the Witch Hazel, I just wanted it to be damp.  You could use more if you wanted.

Then I folded the pad back up just like it was before I opened it and wrapped it in foil.  All the blogs I read said they didn't have any issues with the pads being frozen together so I figured I shouldn't have to worry either. 

I only made 7 of these so far because I want to see how well they work before making a boat load of them.  I put all mine in a gallon sized freezer bag labeled "Lisa's postpartum", just so my husband wouldn't think it was some kind of food and open them.

 With the bottles of aloe and Witch Hazel I bought there is more than enough to make loads of these if they work well.

All the reviews on pads like these were great so I'm really hoping they work well for me too.  I'll report back after I get some use out of them.

You know your at the end of your pregnancy when.....

You know you're at the end of your pregnancy when......

You have to get a little momentum going in order to get off the couch.

You have to scoot your ever growing behind to the end of the couch and use your arms to push off the back of the couch in order to get off the same couch.  So much work just to get up.

You wake up all hours of the night for no apparent reason and can't for the life of you get back to sleep.

You need no less than 6 pillows surrounding you and holding up your belly while you sleep.

Sleeping on your back makes you feel like you can no longer breathe and you sleep on your sides so much they actually get sore throughout the night.

You have acid reflux....horrible, never ending, doesn't matter what you eat, acid reflux.

Every time you get up you make a small groaning noise because your body literally hurts from the weight of your belly.

Your thighs ache all day because this baby is sitting right between them getting ready for it's debut.

Every weird ache you get you are saying a silent prayer it is the beginning of labor.

You pull a muscle, or multiple muscles, in your belly because you rolled over at night and had no support under your belly.

You wonder if your stomach stretches another inch if it's possible for it to actually burst.

The act of getting dressed makes you out of breath.

Bending over is a chore and requires some strategy.

Even your large maternity clothes are slowly starting to no longer fit.

Going to the store makes you exhausted and in serious need of a nap.

The sheer act of standing up makes you feel like you will pee your pants before you make it to the bathroom.

You use the restroom only to stand up, fix your pants and shirt, and have the overwhelming sensation you have to pee again.

Your belly is constantly hitting the counter and "in the way" while you're cooking.

You accidentally almost knock your 3 year old over with your belly because you have no real concept of how far it actually sticks out.

Your toddler constantly looks at your belly and says, "mama your belly's big!"

Your sister says "Lisa you're looking pretty humongous today", and doesn't think you should be offended by it.

You welcome the horrendous pain of childbirth so you can not only finally see your little one but so you also no longer have to be pregnant.  You are that uncomfortable

Pregnancy Journal

My cousin found out she is pregnant with twins about a month ago.  I wanted to do something as a little gift and I tried to think of something I would liked to have had when I was pregnant with Grant.  So I made her a pregnancy journal.

Here is the front.  I bought a composition notebook, and used my cricut to cut out the words and tag.  The small flowers are embellishments I already had in my craft stash.

Here is the inside cover with two places for ultrasound pictures or pregnancy pictures. I used spray adhesive and modpodge to adhere the cardstock to the front, back, and inside covers and used an xacto knife to trim the edges. 

After having Grant a journal is the one thing I wish I would have kept to write down anything I was feeling during my pregnancy.  I know in 20 years I won't remember alot of the small details like when exactly I first felt him kick, or all the different names we thought of before deciding on Grant.  Just little things I think would be neat to read from my mom if she had kept a journal.  I plan on stocking up on composition notebooks during the school sales this summer when they are at their cheapest so I will be ready for the next pregnant friend or my next pregnancy.