And the waiting begins...

Thursday night I started to feel weird. It all started with a sharp, strong pain in my back that lasted about 5 minutes. Then it developed into cramps that kept me awake all night. It didn't help that the baby was laying in a new, weird position and refused to move no matter how much I poked at him/her. Morning came and Luke and I both went to work convinced that it was just nothing, but I decided to call the doctor just to be sure. So to make a long story short, I went to the doctor's and was hooked up to a fetal monitor, all to reveal that I am having contractions! Woohoo! Good thing for me that it is the beginning stage of labor so they aren't really painful yet, just kinda uncomfortable. The doctor sent me home and told me to call them once they become stronger and closer together. She even said that we will probably have this baby within the week! We are so excited and scared and nervous and everything else that soon to be parents feel. The baby is an overachiever too...coming almost 3 weeks early! I guess it is learning Pap Pap Galand's policy that it is always good to be early, very early! And so we wait...

Big Feet

With only 5 more weeks to go we are getting so excited to meet this little one that has taken over my body. As you can see above, the baby is definitely getting bigger...and so are my feet. I took so much pride in the fact that for 34 weeks of this pregnancy I still had lovely ankles and skinny feet, but alas pride comes before the fall. Out of nowhere my feet have seemed to double in size and only if I squint my eyes and turn my head sideways can I tell where my ankles were. The only shoes that I can wear comfortably are my crocs, and thank goodness for them! When I start to get cranky I remind myself that it is such small price to pay for such a wonderful blessing!

This past weekend we put the finishing touches on the nursery and it turned out great. It has such a warm, homey feeling to it. The crib is much nicer than it appeared in the store and all the bedding is on it and it is just waiting for a little baby to sleep in it. This weekend my goal is to take down all of the Christmas decorations. I have this fear that if they don't get taken down soon, the baby will arrive and then our house will be Christmas themed until summer!

Christmas Comes This Time Each Year

This blog title is dedicated to my sweet husband who gets a kick out of that line in one of the Beach Boys' Christmas songs. The small things in life make us happy and this Christmas seemed to be all about the small things, especially the small one growing inside me. We had a great, peaceful Christmas day this year, filled with lots of food and family fun. Luke got to play his little heart out on Guitar Hero and I competed with the other ladies in the family in an American Idol sing off. I have to let you all know that I won, and this sweet victory made my week! (I can hear my sisters demanding a re-match already!) This year seemed like one of our busiest Christmases...there was always something to bake, buy or wrap but I genuinely enjoyed every minute of it. I think we figured out that I baked about 30 dozen cookies for the family gatherings and even did a pretty good job of making my Grandma's traditional paska bread this year. Holiday traditions are so important to me and I think being with child this year, made that desire even stronger to continue the traditions and think of a few new ones that we can start with our baby next year. Mom and I are already planning all of the recipes from my Great Grandmother that we are going to make next year. The greatest blessing this Christmas, like always, is the gift of baby Jesus who came to die for our sins. It is a powerful reality to reflect on especially when I am only weeks away from bringing a baby into this world myself. Here is to a blessed New Year!

He-He-Hoo

Yesterday Luke and I spent our whole Saturday at West Penn Hospital, not delivering the baby, but at Lamaze Class. Now I was pretty skeptical about this whole class, but figured that I know nothing about birthing a baby so it would pretty irresponsible of us to skip it. We were pleasantly surprised. It was a great class (although Luke and I are kinda dorks in the fact that we like learning and organized fun) and well presented. There is so much about my body and what happens to it in labor that I could never have learned from a book. Most of all the instructor gave us some great tips on being prepared for labor, what to bring, what the hospital experience is like and most importantly some "comfort techniques" for dealing with all of the pain! Now I don't expect to remember most of it when the time comes, but have told Luke that it is his job to remind me of certain breathing and birthing techniques. I was most surprised to learn that the best way to give birth isn't flat on your back, but kinda upright so gravity can help you out. Goes to show that most of what you see in the movies is not a good representation of things in the real world. My favorite part of the class was the hospital tour because the hospital has these BIG (I mean like much bigger than my bedroom) and very nice delivery rooms. They even have a pull-out couch for the Dads to sleep on and are furnished with a full bathroom (some have jacuzzi tubs) and an armoire with a tv, vcr and cd player. What more can you want?! Of course when I told my Mom all of this, she told me that when the time comes I could care less if I was delivering there or on the hall floor. Ah Mom, always there to bring me back to reality! Anyway, I think Luke and I are as ready for labor as we will ever be...and yes we did have to watch a scary birthing video. Thankfully Luke only looked squeamish when the placenta was delivered and I was pretty grossed out at that point too. Only 9 more weeks to go at this point!

Showering Baby Good

On the first Saturday in December my mom and sisters threw me a Christmas themed baby shower. Let me tell you, those ladies know how to throw a party. See those plates and glasses on the table? My mom searched for those old "patio snack plates" and hit the jackpot when she found (and bought) about 11 sets of them. No paper plates and cups for us! It was great to see friends and family that we don't get to visit with very often and we received lots of great baby gifts. I was just overwhelmed by people's generosity to us. It is just amazing how much stuff a little baby needs. After a lot of trips up our huge set of stairs at home (thanks Luke!) we finally got it all into the nursery. Mom, Dad and Amanda came by on Sunday to help us sort through it all and get things put away and ready to be washed. Luke and I are just so thankful for all of our family and friends who are so good to us, especially my mom and sisters who worked so hard to give me such a beautiful shower. 11 more weeks until Baby Good is due to appear, we can hardly wait! (Check out Flickr for more shower pictures.)

The Tradition Continues

For the past 17+years the Galand girls (which originated with Judy, Tammy, Trisha and Amanda...but now includes Tammy's daughter Alyson) have joined the throngs of crazy "Black Friday" shoppers to get the best deals on Christmas gifts. And we are serious about it, usually putting in a 12+ hour day of shopping! Over the years a lot has changed: prices, vehicles, shopping lists, stores visited and last names; but it is a tradition in our family, something that you look forward to every year! This year baby Good came along on his/her first trip and as my oldest sister reminded me, if the baby is a boy...this year was his first and last. It has always been a girls only day and I am pretty sure we went every year, even the year Tammy gave birth to a baby on November 23rd! Sure there has been a lot of pouting, tears, yelling and complaining (can you feel your feet still?!) but there are a lot of smiles and laughter to make it all worthwhile. I realized this year that the tradition it has become and the time we spend together as a family is more important than getting most of our Christmas shopping done, or getting the best deal on the "must have" gift of the season. In this day and age when family time and traditions are rarely celebrated, I want to thank my family, especially my Mom for making them so important to us. I can't wait to celebrate the old traditions with my children and maybe start a few of our own. Of course if I am blessed with a daughter she too will be waking up at 5am on "Black Friday" morning with us to shop, but most importantly to spend some quality time with the most important women in her life.

Brighter than the sun

Okay so it is not really that bright...but it is a nice sunny color of yellow. Since we don't know what we are having (other than a baby) we figured that a little boy or girl would fit well in this room. Luke spent a good day and a half getting everything just right, although for some reason the paint just wouldn't take to the walls easily. But we figured that once we have all of the furniture and baby stuff in there, no one will notice. We even cleaned the windows (inside and out) and gave the carpet a good vacuum. Now all we need is furniture and a baby. Check out Flickr for more pictures of the nursery, including Luke in his cool Pittsburgh Public Schools t-shirt at work.