I've blogged about having 2nd trimester energy, now I've had 3rd trimester "drama"!

We've been joking that if this is a little girl, she's already dramatic!
Speaking of little girls, the pressure is on Chris and I to bring a little girl into the mix after 3 little boys have been born to our newsroom staff in the past 2 weeks! (So exciting!)

The last trimester of this pregnancy got off to a bang. Literally. I fell down the basement stairs pretty hard and of course, any pregnant woman automatically worries. I don't know what happened, but I lost my footing and boom! The fall scared the daylights out of Chris, who immediately came to see if I was okay, then for some reason our youngest cat wigged out and decided she was so scared, she was going to attack both me and Chris! So add a cat bite (not bad, but weird) to the list of ouchies.

I had to go in to the doctor to make sure the fall didn't affect baby and thankfully it did not do any internal damage. I had the worst bruise of my life but prayers were answered and baby was fine!

Then there was the hospital stay in the last week of July. The day before the big fundraiser I was planning, I started to have pretty impressive pain and it lasted about 3 hours so I called in to be safe. Since it was after clinic hours, they had to admit me to the labor and deliver wing (intimidating... the last time I was there I came home with a bundle). I ended up having contractions that were 3 minutes apart for more than 12 hours! They tried to make me more comfortable and while I was there I spiked a fever, so more red flags went up. Again, prayers were answered and I didn't have any infections and the fever went away after a while. They did have to keep me overnight to watch and see how baby was doing. I of course was happy baby was good and of course couldn't help but worry about the huge event I was organizing the next day!

I got discharged at 8 a.m. because the contractions pretty much stopped and baby was looking golden in terms of vitals. I got a couple more hours of sleep and it was off to try and "take it easy" while pulling off a major event! The fundraiser went perfectly! I had plenty of caring ladies telling me to sit down. I did what I could! I was just so happy not to miss the fun and knowing it was a success did a lot to help me feel like I could now relax a little.

Baby gave me a break pretty much until a week later when I started to feel a headache coming on. By the news at 9 p.m., it was starting to act like a migraine. You might have noticed I was wearing my glasses for the first time ever on air. After the news I got really sick and had to go home. My doctor ordered an IV and the same tests the next day after I got a fever again. Happily, it was just mommy who didn't feel good. Baby consistently has stayed in perfect shape in there through all of this. On doctor's orders, I stayed home a couple of days to rest last week. Whew, did I need that! I slept a bunch and hit the reset button, hoping this baby will stay in and bake for a while longer!

Since I've technically got 4 weeks left, I hope to just spend them preparing and resting up for the marathon ahead. I have the charity softball game to do (yeah, I plan a lot of that too) but since we're in our 4th year, it gets easier to organize every time. After that -- nothing on the calendar! I made sure of it!

As I laid in the hospital bed that night in July, I did cry quite a bit. I didn't feel ready for this little sweet pea. I felt guilty. I had put all my free time into getting other tasks completed that I've barely had time to prepare for our little pumpkin to come. I have since spent time washing the new little clothes I got them, I set up the bassinet in our room and I've packed my hospital bag. I hope to spend some more time knitting his or her baby blanket and just have a dozen scrapbook pages to make. I can honestly say I feel ready now! But, baby has orders to stay in there until the end of August!

We have our names picked out and we've been reading Kanyon books about being a big brother to hopefully prepare him. I've got the little diapers back in the closet (they are so tiny! How soon we forget) and the baby car seat is out of storage and ready to be installed. Now I feel like we have our act together! The guilt is gone! Whew! And yes, I'm taking it much easier now. I am not taking my health and this baby's health for granted! I am so blessed to have had a mostly care-free pregnancy and I hope the drama is behind us!

A Kanyon update:

He is quite the little dude. He's 19 months old and we're pretty proud and amazed by his development! He can participate in reading books (he's got some memorized) and knows every animal in all of his books. He's now mastering colors and surprised me today by knowing "circle" and "triangle"!

His learning is also making for some "yikes" and "ha ha" moments... he's learned how to open the front door the little stinker, so we've had to add those doorknob things to child proof the doors. He also had to point out that momma had an "owie" on her head. (thanks, Kanyon for noticing that zit on mom's forehead). He's got a great memory and can point out people by name in pictures even if he hasn't seen them in a long time.

Alright, I'm off the brag train!

My favorite funny of the week has to be when Chris was talking to Kanyon about Halloween costumes. I guess a catalog came in the mail with some of them and so as he showed Kanyon the pictures, he finally asked him what he wanted to be for Halloween this year. Kanyon answered: "Pa pa"!

So cute! Kanyon is really attached to Chris' dad who he calls Pa pa. So I guess we have to buy some little khakis and a plaid shirt for Halloween! (Pa pa's normal attire). I thought that was too cute not to share!

I hope you have had a great summer and thanks as always for reading along with our adventures in parenthood! I hope to blog again before baby is born, but who knows when this little one will show up! (my bet: August 24... I don't know why... just my guess. Baby is due Labor Day, September 3).

I think it may be a girl... but then again I thought Kanyon was a girl too. Needless to say, the outfits are white and yellow and green and we have a name for either ready to go!

Have a great day!

*New pictures included... if you click on the big picture above it will show you a slide show*