Webster

Pregnancy, childbirth and motherhood in general have forced me to become more familiar and comfortable with otherwise unknown, funny or strange words. To name a few: lightening, effacement, linea negra, Weissbluth, nipple, breech, anterior fontanelle, craniosynostosis, and my newest vocab addition is the "Webster Technique" (which I'll get to in a minute).

I've used this blog to write about mostly sunny and wonderful moments of motherhood. I am not really one to mass communicate on the hardships. Like almost a year ago when we saw a pediatric cranial plastic surgeon for a possible diagnosis of craniosynostosis (aka scariest time so far in my mothering career). Sophie is fine, by the way.

The second most paralyzing moment in my mothering career happened yesterday. We had an ultrasound to check on baby Barber's progress at almost 39 weeks and the technician told us we have a big, healthy BREECH baby. I kind of checked out at that point. In the contiguous United States, this presentation of baby equals Cesarean delivery. I know - women do it every day, it's safe, it's routine, blah blah blah. The last thing I want is scheduled major surgery to extract a baby from my body, at the risk of offending anyone that reads this. It's just not for me. I mean, I cried when I got my flu shot.

In coming to terms with my new potential reality, I reached out to my very best resources who gave me some excellent advice. I immediately scheduled an appointment with a highly recommended chiropractor for first thing this morning. He's had a great success rate with something called the "Webster Technique" which involves small adjustments and encouraging some involuntary muscles and ligaments to relax and stretch giving baby any extra room available to get head-down.

A chiropractic adjustment called the Webster technique is a specific sacral adjustment to help facilitate the mother's pelvic alignment and nerve system function. This in turn balances pelvic muscles and ligaments, reduces torsion to the uterus and offers a greater potential for optimal fetal positioning.

So I'm freshly home from my first treatment and feeling relaxed and hopeful. There has been a lot of activity in my belly (fingers crossed), and I go back in on Monday for another round. Tuesday my doctors are going to want to make a plan that minimizes risk for safe delivery. If it doesn't work, I will know that I tried. Head down, head up, surgery or labor... healthy baby. Thank you to my friends and family for prayers, thoughts and words of encouragement!

My firstborn

Cooper (4yrs) and Maddox (5yrs), Boxers.

I've been doing a lot of worrying about how to still make sure Sophie doesn't feel left out or neglected when baby Barber comes along (hey baby: how bout now?). But my friend Heidi was quick to remind me how upset I had become in the days leading up to Sophie's birth that my other two firstborn would not get any love or attention and therefore hate me.

Well, Maddox and Cooper managed just fine, in case you were wondering. They were given big Christmas stockings full of treats and toys (which lasted approximately 17 minutes before eaten or destroyed), and though they were relegated to the family room instead of sleeping in our room, they quickly took over the couch and still maintained special places in our family.

This time around is a little different. They've been following me around the house non-stop (Cooper takes my afternoon nap with me every day and Maddox doesn't let me out of her site at all). I keep telling Bryan that dogs have sixth senses and maybe this means the baby's arrival is imminent. Bryan says our dogs don't have the normal five senses and therefore my theory is null and void. Hm. We don't have to agree on everything.

I'm confident that Sophie will survive the addition of a sibling, but I'm still open to any and all advice on how to make this transition easier for her!

One of my favorite suggestions thus far has been to make her a special goody basket of some treasured new toys, coloring books, etc that she only gets to play with when mommy is feeding baby and has her hands full.

I would love to hear from others, too! Please send my way if you can!

Birth of a nursery

This nursery has been a labor of love, for sure. I've spent many hours on little projects, picking through stores and furniture, and picking paint from my hands and fingernails. It's still simple and sweet though - it's hard to over-do-it when you don't know the sex!

We completed this nursery on a serious budget, and we left out some things that we can still do later. For example I really wanted tall bookshelves flanking either side of the crib, but for now the space is occupied with a glider and a bouncy seat. We have already started enjoying the room, hanging out in there after putting Sophie to bed at night. Hope you enjoy, too!

BEFORE:

Bedroom #4, before we purchased the house.

Dresser we scored at a local consignment shop.

The priming begins!

A craft project/mobile that I found on Pinterest.*

*Not pictured: my arthritic hands after cutting out 10,000 circles.

Mobile before I put it all together.

Maternity photoshoot - my favorite shot.

The photographer was free, but I had to carry his baby. :)

I borrowed the cardi from my high school senior brother-in-law!

AFTER:

Jenny Lind crib from Craigslist, sleepsheep from Sophie's nursery,

repurposed picture frames from college that I crackled painted

(two frames are waiting for pictures of new baby),

bumper was a gift from Yaya and Grampa.

The finished consignment store dresser!

Bassinet from Sophie's nursery (yes, it's staying pink for now)

(from my brother's nursery)

(from my nursery)

(from my Dad's nursery). It is very old!

Bicycle photo I took in high school during a trip to New Orleans,

old window is from the first house we owned in Charlotte,

houndstooth lamp from Homegoods,

yellow/grey piggy bank a gift from the Flemings.

IF baby Barber is a boy, we have some cute

boy clothes on standby. This was one of my brother's baby outfits!

Halloween 2011

Halloween 2011 has come to a close. I'm happy about this for a few reasons. First, we can now get rid of the candy we've been storing a pilfering for about a month. Second, I can pack away this Minnie dress that Sophie went from hating to begging to wear. And third, we are this much closer to having a baby. Sophie learned the art of "trick or treat" and the goodies that it brings her, so safe to say the big day was actually fun this year. (Stop over here if you want to see her last year as a precious little ladybug who didn't even walk yet. Time flies.)

Sophie's Yaya and Gampa came into town from FL for a quick visit between vacation and baby Barber's arrival. We had a good time of cooking, filling the freezer for aforementioned baby's arrival, trick-or-treating, watching football and just relaxing.

My Little Ponies, Hannah and KK, and Sophie Minnie

at the local children's hospital Halloween event.

Daddy carved some great non-scary pumpkins for his little Minnie.

Sophie at her preschool Halloween parade.

(She's not in jail, they just push the littles around in rolling cribs!)

Cheesing it up with Yaya and Gampa.

Having fun with Gampa.

Where the fun began. We gave her the "puckett" to carry

and she looked inside to tell us

"there nutthin' in it?"

Minnie and Daddy.

G-Mom, Minnie and G-Daddy trick-or-treating.

**Not pictured: Mommy. I feel it's best I stay behind the camera at this point. 37 weeks and 3 days today. Oops, I told you I was going to stop counting. :)