baby bastian oliver van bloom is finally here! i can’t wait to share my birth story and more pictures of this sweet little guy. he is the most perfect baby and we are so in love. i am sure you can imagine finding time to post is challenging, but i will try my best to get my story written while it is fresh in my brain. he’s pretty cute huh?
39 weeks and still pregnant. i mean should i really be shocked? most first time moms end up going late…and i haven’t even reached my due date so i should just shut it. i am getting pretty anxious though. this little guy still hasn’t dropped and i am not getting any signs of anything happening any time soon. i am drinking raspberry leaf tea and taking evening prime rose oil pills, sitting on the exercise ball at work and trying to walk as much as i can. does anyone have any good suggestions to get this guy more excited about coming out into this world? i have to be patent and i guess i can’t complain too much because i am still sleeping fairly well and i am not too terribly uncomfortable. i will say though, by the end of the day my hips are so sore it makes it hard to walk. now when i wake up in the middle of the night to pee, i have a harder time falling back asleep because my mind starts racing. this past friday i just thought of all the things i wanted to clean…
i woke up telling brian i had thought about all the places i wanted to clean and he wasn’t too thrilled…but he was a champ and helped me accomplish all my goals this weekend! we got so much done and i was so thankful to have that time. the neighbors probably thought i was crazy…outside shaking out every rug in the house and buying furniture and running errands like a mad woman!
i had a massage with my doula on saturday which felt amazing! she told me after that she has a feeling this little guy is pretty cozy in there…i was like “ehh…why do you say that???” already knowing in my head that this “little” guy IS COZY as EVER in there! she said part of it is just a “feeling” she gets and then the other part would be the fact that i have no swelling. she also said that when you get closer to the baby coming your ankles start to get really loose. i am guessing being a massage therapist you can really notice this more so than other people. sooo…with that being said, i will make sure i take this time to just relax, spend some time with brian and do last minute cleaning. in the back of my mind i am thinking…”bring on the swelling!” “come on extreme pelvic pressure!”
now that’s a belly right? baby still hasn’t dropped, but from what i have read, you can go into labor before baby drops…
well if he decides to make an arrival this weekend we would be so pleased! i am going to yoga tomorrow and then straight to a massage with my doula, so maybe that will be just what we need to get things moving! patience, patience, patience i keep telling myself. i think he really likes this little home i have made for him but i just know he will love his new home too! well here’s to waiting and being patient, and soaking up all the moments of it being just brian and i. hope everyone has a great weekend!
ok, i know i have a ton of pictures of this but i just couldn’t help myself. this is the AMAZING quilt that my family and friends all made for our little guy! at my shower this past weekend i was totally shocked to receive this gift. i guess this has been in the works since february. my sisters sent out little packets in the mail to some family and friends that had a quilt square, an assigned letter, color swatches and stitch tutorials. each person had to pick an animal that started with their letter, design it, go pick out their own fabric, and then stitch their animal onto their square. i was soo impressed with everyone’s choices and how great everyone did! i am sure some people totally freaked out when they were asked to participate in this. actually i know people freaked! people were thinking, “i have no idea how to quilt!” “i can’t sew!” but the most wonderful part about it all is that they did it! they all put their love and energy into doing their square for our little guy.
once everyone had returned their finished square to my sisters, it was time for them to assemble the quilt. my sisters, mom and grandma all had a very special part in making this quilt come together. the amount of time that goes into quilting is astounding! and WAIT THERE’S MORE! they put together a little hard-bound alphabet book to go with the quilt. my mom wrote this herself and i just think it’s adorable! the book has each letter and a picture of the associated animal square, a little saying and then who made each one.
i was so overwhelmed when i got this gift. i know how much love and energy went into creating it, and brian and i are so thankful. it means so much that people took the time to do something so special for our son. he is one very very lucky little guy to be surrounded by such amazing people 🙂 everyone should get one of these. so special.
i can’t believe this little baby boy could come any day now! i am 50/50 on my thoughts of him coming early. i kind of feel like he is pretty content in there and just wants to chill for a bit longer, but there is another part of me thinks that he is maybe ready to be out. either way, we are happy. i so badly want to meet him and see what he looks like, but i also get really sentimental about no longer being pregnant. it’s been such a journey with brian that i have really enjoyed. it makes me sad to think it will end, but the prize at the end is the best we will ever receive.
i have been feeling a little uncomfortable, mainly when i sit at work all day. i change it up between the exercise ball and a chair, but my back is still trying to figure out how to support this large belly. i sleep great still…i don’t want to jinx myself, so i will not gloat. i haven’t really noticed him drop at all, but my doctor told me it may not be super noticeable because i don’t really have a long torso…so we will see. i have noticed a bit of pinching down there though. not sure if it’s his head rubbing around or if my body is getting ready for labor.
my sister’s had a little shower for me this weekend. we received the most thoughtful, creative gift i could have ever asked for. i don’t want to go into too much detail because i will post about it, but it’s a quilt for little guy. i teared up and can’t even begin to thank everyone enough. i also loved the movie “a birth story” a friend and i went to see on saturday. so great and empowering. women are rock stars for sure! my doula sat right in front of us at the theater. we joked that if i go into labor during the movie i would be in good hands because the crowd was full of doulas, midwives, teachers, etc.
here’s to almost the end and soaking up every little kick and nudge.
baby’s bag is packed! i was told bring a boppy to help with breastfeeding. i found the cutest little sweater ever…because you just never know when you might be cold. we are bringing two pairs of socks to keep those toesies warm. i have a going home outfit for him and another cute and cozy outfit just in case…i am bringing a fuzzy blanket for him to snuggle with and then a couple of swaddle blankets. i heard the hospital ones are a bit scratchy and i think my swaddle blankets will make for better pictures. i can’t believe there is going to be a little monster filling out those cute little outfits soon!
i finally have this adorable toy chest in the baby’s room! this toy chest was built by my grandpa for my dad when he was a kid and it was used by my sisters and i when we were kids too. i knew i wanted to spruce it up and add a cushion to the top, but i didn’t want to ruin the nostalgia of the chest either.
i started off by cleaning the chest. it was kind of grungy and i didn’t know if i would be able to save the cute little horse sticker and numbers on the front because of the condition. i tried a few different cleaners, but once again that oh so magical magic eraser saved the day. aren’t those things seriously magic??? i could even scrub over the sticker and not rub off the color. then i taped off the sides of the toy chest and painted my base coat that is the same vanilla custard color of the walls in the baby’s room. then i taped off where i wanted to have the red stripes and painted one more coat of the vanilla custard to help seal the lines and avoid bleeding. i then painted the red stripes, let dry and then pealed off the tape.
i tackled the padded lid next. the materials i needed for this were:
– fabric for the cushion
– fabric for the under-side of the lid
– foam (i used about 1.5 thick)
– batting (i guess this might be optional)
– staple gun
– scissors and a pen
first i laid my foam out and then measured where i need to cut to fit the lid of the chest. my foam wasn’t long enough so i had to take a piece of the trimming from the side and add it to the end. then i laid down the batting and cut around the lid so i had plenty to wrap over the edges. you don’t have to pullt he batting too tight because it starts to pull apart. i mainly used batting for extra cushion and because i didn’t want to have the greenish color of the foam showing through the fabric. wrap the batting over the edge and staple away. i cut little slits where the hinges were on the lid. then i laid out my fabric and started wrapping and stapling. you DO want to pull this tight. you don’t want any wrinkles or bumps in the fabric. don’t pull so tight though that the foam starts to warp or compress. i then trimmed any extra fabric that was bulky away and cut a piece of fabric for the under side. i measured it so the under side fabric was the length and width of the lid. i then stapled that fabric to the bottom and tried to make sure my staples were in a straight line along the edge of the lid. i then trimmed away the fabric right up to the staples. i didn’t show a picture but i then finished the edge with some grey velvet ribbon (1/4″ wide) to hide the unfinished edge of the under side fabric and staples.
just put the lid back on, fill it with toys, accessories with some cute pillows and your done! the cloud pillow i bought from land of nod along with the black and white cloth basket on the floor. i made the little bow and arrow pillow in the pictures and i have made a couple other cute pillows for his room that i will share soon. overall the project was pretty simple and didn’t take a lot of time. i absolutely love the end result and i feel like it’s the perfect mix of old and new. i know our little dude is going to love it!
thanks to my super talented sister taura horn, i have the most beautiful maternity photos i could have ever asked for. i get teary eyed when i look at them. soon our little baby will be born and i will never have those special moments of feeling him in my belly. i know that having him on the outside will be so much better haha, but i think the fact that this is my first pregnancy really makes me emotional. she has them posted on her blog today, so go check them out!
37 weeks and baby is still very happy in my belly. he is making my life a little uncomfortable but i suppose i will allow it 🙂 i am still sleeping great, so i thank him for that. he still hasn’t dropped and i haven’t had any significant contractions. at the doctor’s this past week, she told me that if baby came now he wouldn’t have to be in the NICU. that was great to hear! i am getting more and more eager to meet this little guy. i told brian i am really excited to see if he is a baldy or a little hairy monkey. i had lots of black hair as a baby and then it started growing in blonde, and i think brian had pretty light hair as a baby…so we will see!
my doula, who is also a massage therapist, asked me if i would like to help her subject for a prenatal massage class she was teaching to some massage therapy students. it meant a free massage so i was in! i did have 6 students staring at my pale body, but i didn’t care. it felt sooo nice. it was the first massage i have had since being pregnant…why did i not do this sooner? even the slightest pulls and movements she did felt like my sacrum was in heaven. this uterus is really pulling on my lower back! it was also nice to see kelly our doula again. every time i see her, i get more and more excited for her to be apart of our experience.
the baby’s room is so close to being done too. i did a little diy project this weekend with an old toy chest my grandpa built for my dad. it’s so cute and i can’t wait to share it with you. this week is also our last childbirth class, which seems crazy. everything is going so fast. this weekend a local movie theater is showing a ina may gaskin movie called “birth story: ina may gaskin and the farm midwives“. this is about the lady who wrote the ‘guide to childbirth‘ i told you i read. she is like the queen of all midwives! i am going with a good friend and am really excited to see it. i think it will be the perfect push for a positive natural labor before baby boy is born.
i have a little guest post over at parentsavvy.com today on my thoughts on becoming a mom. check it out HERE
amalia misc. 
