Another change of plans

This seems to be our week for disappointments! We drove up to the temple yesterday, excited to go just before Conference and while Eric is still care-free on Spring Break.  As our run of bad luck would have it, the gate on the temple said 'Temple Closed' as we drove up.  Turns out it is the yearly cleaning closure, we just didn't know.  So we walked around the grounds and had a photo shoot instead and then drove to the nearby La Jolla Cove since we were already so close.

 La Jolla Cove

Isn't he just so cute?  

The bird on the rock is a pelican.  La Jolla Cove has tons of pelicans that live there. So fun to watch them fly around.

La Jolla Cove is probably most famous for all of the sea lions that live there.  They get this particular stretch of beach to themselves and also camp out on different rocks around the cove. 

So we still had a great time and got some decent pictures!

USS Disappointment

Two minutes. That's how many minutes late we were to get into the USS Midway Museum free.  Of course, that's how late we were after having walked 45 minutes (2.5 miles!) from our Hillcrest apartment to the downtown museum (have I mentioned we hate finding parking?). 

This afternoon was advertised as free admission to the USS Midway Museum, a museum that usually has an $18 admission fee, due to the commemoration of the centennial planting of the D.C. cherry blossoms and the planting of a couple dozen trees in San Diego.  Free admission started at 1pm, and with the last admission being at 4pm, I made sure to get home from work in time to make the journey downtown.  The walk wasn't bad, but it was with the hope and excitement of seeing this new part of San Diego and amazing history.  As we were walking up to the Midway, Eric looked at his clock and it was 3:28pm.  By the time we got to the ticket counter, it was 3:31pm.  To say the least, we were quite astounded when the ticket man told us that free admission had ended at 3:30pm.  What?! 

 It was definitely not advertised as having an ending time of 3:30pm, and with last admission being at 4:00pm, it seemed awfully strange (and wrong) to start charging normal admission prices for the last half hour. Eric had me (since I'm the pregnant, more pitiful looking one) try to talk two different workers into letting us still get free admission, but they wouldn't budge.  It was quite remarkable, and a huge disappointment, especially since we had an hour walk to get back home.

Luckily, Seaport Village was just a five minute walk down the harbor, so we settled for spending a few minutes there before heading back to Hillcrest.  A very enjoyable place, but not what we came for, and certainly not what we walked 2.5 miles to get to.    

Wildflowers

Spring is definitely here!  The wildflowers are all blooming and it is beautiful.  These are some pictures I took on my run this past Saturday down in Mission Bay.  I hadn't been down there for a few weeks but had to go, knowing the flowers would probably all be there, and they were!

Weeks 25-28

Week 25

This week I caught up with Eric in weight. No more asking him to carry me to bed - bummer! I'd be afraid he would drop me. Time is starting to feel like it is going faster and faster.  Which makes me feel increasingly worried about everything that I need to learn and get ready. I am a worrier by nature - good thing I have Eric to help me calm down. 

Week 26

I had a midwife appointment this week and had to do my glucose test. I have only heard awful things about it and so was prepared for the worst. Which is probably why it didn't seem so bad. Sure, I wouldn't want to drink another of those things, but it's gone it a minute or so - so not too bad.  And the results were great. The midwife also told me my uterus measured a week small this time and so wanted me to come back in 2 weeks instead of 4 to make sure baby girl is growing okay. I have been tracking my weight gain and from that I am right on track so I didn't get too worried. 

While I was at the birthing center sitting and waiting for an appointment, I could hear what sounded like a women in labor over the pretty music they always have playing. After an hour or so (I was there for a long time because of the glucose test) all of a sudden there was a baby's cry. She had given birth.  It was really neat - I have never been near a woman giving birth before and I will be in her place in just 3 months!

Week 27

Now in the third trimester! It's getting even closer now!

This week I started back to work. There is 10 weeks of the post-intervention data collection and so the job will end just a couple weeks before my due-date which should work out perfectly. I, of course, didn't get nearly as much done during my month off as I was hoping. I did finish the baby quilt though this week. It felt good to at least accomplish something. 

I am still feeling great. Some heartburn which has been increasing a little, but not too bothersome. And I am actually sleeping tons better than I was a few weeks ago which has been wonderful. Running has gotten better too - no more annoying pelvic joint pain after my runs. 

Week 28

Had my midwife appointment yesterday.  Still measuring small but growing so the midwife says as long as I keep growing like I am everything should be fine.  I actually didn't gain any weight this week which I know doesn't say much if it is just one week. But I took a closer look at my diet and I think I could be a little better with my protein at least.

I think I felt the baby get hiccups for the first time yesterday. That was fun. I just love sitting and feeling her move which she is definitely doing a lot of. There must be lots of room in there because she just rolls around.

Baby Girl quilt - finished!

Many, many hours later...it's done!  And I really think it turned out amazing.  Eric and I are quite in love with it.  The pictures really don't do it complete justice.

That walking foot Eric got for me was an absolute life-saver. I was dreading the quilting and binding parts so much.  But the walking foot made the quilting part not hard and I found the binding part relaxing.  I checked out an Alexander McCall Smith book on tape from the library (Friends, Lovers, and Chocolate) and listened to it as I sewed. I took my time over a few days to do it and really quite enjoyed it.

I couldn't make a quilt every week or every month, but spaced out nicely I think I'd like it.

Light reading

I have a huge pile of books that I have been working my way through.  I felt like I knew nothing about being pregnant (except for the nutrition part of it) and labor so I raided the library and having been renewing them as much as allowed. Since we are planning a natural birth at a birthing center I want to be as much prepared as possible and to know what to expect, relaxation techniques, positions for labor, etc. My favorites so far have been Ina May's Guide to Childbirth and The Birth Partner. The Birth Partner was great since it was a very simple straightforward explanation on everything which was a good starting place for me. 

I still have lots to read - I haven't even started studying up on breastfeeding!  But I am feeling increasingly comfortable and excited. I love how Ina May emphasizes that fear is not what we should have going into birth as this will only increase the pain we feel.  I need to be confident that my body was made for this and that I can do it!  

Baby quilt and another great find

I made a very ambitious goal to make a baby quilt for our little girl.  I wish sometimes that I were more crafty but I really am not.  Things like this take me forever.  And with our limited budget we couldn't afford to get all the nice supplies to make it easier.  So I went at it with my pair of sewing scissors, measuring tape, sewing machine, and cutting board that I got at an estate sale a couple summers ago.  Many hours later, I have finished the top! And, more surprisingly, it actually worked!

The part of making the quilt that I have dreaded the most is the actual quilting part which I planned to attempt with my plain old sewing machine. We weren't about to shell out the money for the special 'walking foot' attachment that would have made this an actually reasonable ambition. Then my amazing husband found and got me one from Freecycle over the weekend!  It couldn't have been more perfect timing!  It is an old, vintage one, but it fits my machine.  I am super excited about this and really hope it will make up for my non-existent quilting skills.  One can dream, right?