Anyway, since the budget has been so tight we have not been reluctant to ask for things we need when someone posts an offer on freecycle. We’ve managed to get some pretty helpful things like pet food and baby stuff which has helped us big time. This last freecycler takes the cake though!

We expected a box or a sack of clothing items when we came to claim the baby girl stuff. She said she had a range of sizes and some various other odds and ends. She wanted the same person to take it all so she could be done with it. Sounded fine to us, we’ll just pick through it and pass on the stuff we don’t need or can’t use.

I have no problem with used baby clothes. I know some people do and N has even felt a bit bad about so much of Tater’s stuff being hand-me-down but the reality is babies grow out of stuff so fast and will only poo and vomit on things so there is no shame in reusing and recycling clothes. Saves money and is good for the environment right?

Don’t get me wrong, we’ve been gifted many new clothing items and we’ve even bought a few special outfits for Tater but after this recent freecycle score we wont need much clothes wise for Tater until she is in 6-9 month stuff, this makes me pretty happy and very relieved.

Here is what we ended up keeping:

This is the newborn & 0-3 month stuff that is hanging to dry after being washed. We don’t have a dryer yet (well we do but it doesn’t plug in to the outlet right now) so this is how we are drying clothes when we can’t hang them outside.

I know, it looks like an explosion of pink baby clothes. Don’t laugh, it saves us money with the electric bill too! Also, the pink might make my eyes bleed but I can’t complain when it is free right?

This box overflowing with clothes contains all the 3-6 month stuff and some blankets that still need to be washed. We got lots of good stuff! There were 4 total trash bags full of clothes, we are keeping about half of it. Freecycle was good to us this time around!

Now for the TMI pregnancy updates, flee if you don’t want to know about my cervix and other lady parts stuff.

I am still 50% effaced and am now 1cm dilated since my last visit a week ago. I’ve gained 4 more pounds (yep 4 in a week, enter your baby weight guess soon!) and have had more frequent BH contractions since last week too. Oh and I am now having some brownish, light spotting that my midwife says is just the result of the recent cervix check. The cervix check didn’t hurt today either.

Haven’t started leaking fluid and haven’t noticed the loss of my mucus plug. I am also not having any painful contractions though I am noticing some pelvic pain that is not accompanied by tightening. I’ve got irritable uterus it seems (Hot Belly Mama opened my eyes to this) and I need to be drinking more water.

Yesterday I ate an entire half of a watermelon in addition to drinking like 4 glasses of unsweetened iced tea. Still need more water though.

We’ve got 23 days until Tater’s “due date”. She is full term on Thursday and in 11 short days I’ll be at The Farm waiting for labor to start. Time is just sort of flying by.

The post Free baby clothes explosion and some TMI pregnancy talk. appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.

It was a warm and dry weekend here so N was able to grill dinner, which is his new favorite weekend thing and he also did yard work outside.

I am not handling the heat all that well over extended periods of time so I didn’t hang out with him too much for the yard work fun but we did enjoy a nice moonlit dinner of burgers and grilled corn Saturday. We listened to the frogs and watched the lightening in the distance. It was a nice quite time for us.

On Sunday we went to Target with some gift cards we got from our baby shower. We didn’t buy anything too exciting just like $30 of medical stuff for the home birth kit (things like gauze pads, alcohol, cotton balls, betadine and such).

One of the perks of birthing in a hospital is that they already have all the medical kit stuff there and they just bill your insurance for all of it, when you don’t birth in a hospital you need to gather all those goods on your own. It’s all good though. I just placed an order for the last few items I needed to complete the birth kit.

In case you are curious I ordered the Hylands Arnica Montana for swelling and muscle soreness and the Prevail Fluff Underpads for catching the birth mess and not ruining the floors/ carpets.

So that means our birthing kit supplies are all gathered up! The only thing we still need is some of thesefor our digital camcorder and we need to charge the digital camera batteries so my mom can capture all the birthing fun!

I am still feeling well, just slowing down quite a bit as can be expected. The belly is bigger and is currently killing my back, it is more like muscular pain as a result of the ever changing load size. The last few days were bad with the back pain but I appear to be doing better today after much icing and massaging the days before.

I still appear to be doing fine and haven’t noticed labor beginning or anything, though I doubt I will until it is well under way… Tater is very active and I am still having the tightening and achy “contractions” or whatever you want to call them.

I see the OBGYN for my group B strep test results and another cervix check tomorrow. It would be nice if some progress was made. Secretly we are hoping labor will start when N is with me, like dropping me off at The Farm or when he comes to visit… That way the stress of him getting there in time will not exist

;-p

Oh, two more people just put in their guesses for the Talina’s Baby Weight Contest but we still need more people to sign up so the cash pool gets bigger! Two winners will split the cash pool so the more entries the better for you.  All you have to do is guess my weight! Go forth and enter now… and spread the word.

Also, the mad-lib birth announcement is making it’s rounds to those who have said they would like to be included. There is still time to sign up if you wanna play too, the more the merrier!

K, that is all I’ve got for now. Check back tomorrow for OBGYN updates and more.

The post In 12 days I am outta here to wait for Tater's birth… appeared first on Updates from Ryder Family Farm.