June 27th - 36 Weeks!!!!! SOoooo Closee!!!

Took this picture having just woken up this morning ..... you can see the sleepiness in my face, haha!

I am tremendously anxious-excited!! 

I can NOT even begin to believe how fast time is flying by! Little Olive will be with us before I even realize it -- which is SCARY and AWESOME but SCARY!! I am loving maternity leave and the time off to settle my head, prepare the apartment, get things ready, and just reeeeelllaaxxxxxx. I honestly can not thank Google enough for allowing me this time!

Everyone I talk to, family, friends, co-workers, are all telling me:

"Diana, spend this time Sleeping! Literally, sleep all day and all night !- hibernate! Because your about to have at least 2 months of very little of that!" 

-- yikes!! But of course ... all that talk does is force me into thinking - "How do I make the postpartum as easy as possible?"... and off I go into not resting but instead Do-ing and Plann-ing mode.  :D

Either way, I am very proud of myself for how organized I've become, how active I've continued to be, and how all around amazing Nobie and I have been throughout this whole process. 

This week 36: Things I have done that I am VERY proud of: 

Prep for Birth/Labor: 

• Doula: There's a ton of TEDtalks and youtube videos that praise the use of doulas, but even above this.. for my cousin Titina- her doula undeniably a God send and for cousins I have talked to that have been through the US hospital birth experience... as Alina beautifully put it - "Hiring a Doula to advocate and represent you for your birth is just as necessary as hiring a lawyer for a lawsuit." - aaaaaaand I'll choose DOULA. 

          This weekend was jam-packed with interviews, and after meeting 3 very different doulas - 

          our 4th interview, Lori, was a total personality/experience match and I am SOOO HAPPY!!

• Spinning Babies: Great website to assist baby positioning during pregnancy. I am doing all of the daily and weekly exercises (as long as I remember) to get the best case scenario for labor-day!

• Babywise: Starting to get very serious about routine, routine, routine, and learning what we can now while we have time to prepare ourselves for the months when we'll likely be running around crazy.  Recommended by my cousins who have very happy, well-slept babies, I am hoping this system works on Olive to get her to an easy 7-9 hours of sleep a night in the first month. Fingers Crossed!

• Pediatrician: Meeting 2 potential pediatricians this week! Boom Boom getting things done!

• anndddd Pregnancy Photos: I've decided that I'm not the biggest fan of beautiful, expensive photography and I've had a lot of fun with Nobie taking our own photos week by week. Since it is nice to have some great beauty shots to look back on, we're dedicating sometime this week to capturing our pregnancy with our nice fancy camera :)

          We did a really short test run last weekend and here is what we came up with :D

So Beautiful!!! I can't wait until we do some more later today :D

June 17th - 35 Weeks!!!!!

FIRST week of maternity leave is COMPLETE and ...boy has it been a productive week!!!!

Slight Nesting Freakout: 

These mothering/nesting hormones are making me go haywire!

I had a slight freakout this week over a rash that appeared on my arm. Literally tore the apartment apart (with poor Nobie helping) and cleaned EVERYTHING! Vacuumed 5 times, threw out all the pillows and bought new ones, took off the sofa covers and blanket covers and all the clothes and did laundry -- twice! -- really helps that we live so close to Google .. haha- we were able to use their free laundry machines when no one was around. I swear we took OVER! - we had like 9 loads running at once! I was quite ridiculous .. but AWESOME.

Anyways.. went to a dermatologist the day after the house meltdown - ( Gotta LOVE that EPO insurance - Paid $0 for that appointment! Hellz to the yes! )  ... and turns out the rash was nothing but a latent poison oak allergic reaction from when Nobie and I went camping a few weeks prior....      oh.

Either way, I now officially have the cleanest house on the block and I am actually grateful to the freakout. It makes me feel good to know that should a cleaning emergency be necessary, THIS momma can get everything squeaky clean and harm free in a day - no problem!

Other news: 

BODY - 

Work outs are on POINT!

I went through my new week day routine and I'm loving the Yoga sessions! I'm doing 5 sessions a week all offered at Google and arm/back strength and pelvic floor conditioning on non-yoga days.

I am also taking advantage of these last few weeks of SLEEP. 10pm is bed time and 8am starts my morning. It's so sunny and gorgeous here that I like the idea of being awake with the sun and taking advantage of my full days potential. 

FOOD - 

A minimal iron deficiency has me borderline anemic. I'm doing everything I can to stay away from supplements and instead eating tons of spinach, mussels, clams, meat, cooking everything in cast iron... aaaannnnnnndd just bought grass-fed cow livers from the farmers market. -  Nobie swears by it. We shall see... 

CLASSES - HypnoBirthing: 

So Nobie and I are on our 3rd HypnoBirthing class. Now, everyone who I talk to about this has a million questions and a "what the f***- hippy stuff??" attitude about it. Let me try and explain it a bit.. 

Yes, I will be having a natural birth (should everything go as planned). Why? Because this baby has been soooooo healthy and my pregnancy has gone so well that - why not?

Anyone who knows me well knows that I hate medicine, I hate unspecialized doctors, I hate America's dependance on drugs, I hate the pharmaworld and how society is plagued by chemicals whose disastrous effects we are seeing everywhere:  Health is on the decline, obesity is off the charts, depression is diagnosed to every kid crying from a papercut, ADD, ADHD, diabetes, prescriptions of very harmful medicines are thrown around for such basic human things like Sleep and Eating and Alertness and Attention.  You can call me crazy, hippy, whatever, but I trust in science, research backed science, and many many many common practices used today in medicine are unregulated and follow only trends put in place to turn business ($$$) and our economy at our own expense. 

If women have been having babies naturally forever, and if I have done everything I can to make this a healthy-happy pregnancy - and show no signs of risk or complications - why stop doing this the healthy/natural way now? Because its painful?? Please. Give me a break. Pain is a part of life and birth is not suppose to be a walk in the park. 

In comes Hypnobirthing- Highly recommended by coworkers who have loved - an iquote "LOVED" their pregnancies and births -  this preparation focuses on mindfullness, completely relaxing the body and mind to allow for natural, uninduced pressure to gently and properly deliver the baby through calming reflexes that work as a natural anesthesia. I really love the involvement of the father in the birth as well. Nobie has a very important role of guiding me through meditation and trained hypnosis throughout the birth, keeping me relaxed and reassured -  which we practice every night :). 

I know. Hippie Hippie Hippie :P oh well! I mean the classes are paid by Google, and it has the added benefit of practicing meditation - which we ALL know by now has nothing but millions of benefits. So THERE!

Of course, this will be as long as there are and continue to be no complications - I am not afraid of needles, pain, or surgery should any of that be necessary. But if it's not necessary, I'm not about to do it just for kicks. 

EXCITED FOR FAMILY: 

One thing I'm super super super excited for is FAMILY!

I'm not going to lie.. its been rough feeling soooo far away from my family and people I love while also being near unable to participate in the activities that typically bring me joy: Travel, Hiking and very active Exercise, Dancing, going out, Eating Sushi..., Shopping and not feeling fat.. lol! .. etc. 

My mom gets in on July 8th and I cannot wait! Then Jenny after that and then a whole host of people :) .. and finally OLive!! 

I really cannot wait!!

June 11th - 34 Weeks!!!!!

WOAH WOAH WOAH... weeks are going by soooooo quickly!!

I have officially started my MATERNITY LEAVE!!
Next week will be jam packed with.. .

•  Planning my workout plan/yoga schedule for the next month
•  Hydrate Hydrate Hydrate
•  Eating well and increasing the IRON to get out of borderline anemia
•  Studying our HypnoBirthing material and preparing/practicing for a calm natural birth
•  Ordering last minute necessities
•  Getting the apartment clean and BABY ready! (all those gifts have just been sitting in the living room)
•  Chiropractor
•  Regular massages --- :)
•  Scheduling meetings with potential Pediatricians

SO MUCH to DO!!!! But im sooooooo EXCITED!!!!

June 1st ---- 33 Weeks!!!!

Week 33 was a pretty crazy one.

WORK: I was one my second to last week of work and finalizing all the my projects and transition material. It's been pretty stressful since I have a teammate in Singapore taking over most of my duties- meaning I've had meetings from 6:30-9pm sometimes for the time difference.

BABY PLANNING: It's been a little difficult these last few weeks only because Nobie and I now are certain we do not want to continue with Dr. Hill.. or deliver at El Camino in Mountain View. We know we do not want to join the Stanford hospital group either since it's required to have a student resident deliver the baby----- but we doooo what to deliver at Stanford Lucile Packard Hospital for their beautiful facility.
The above was sorted out only after countless hospital visits, and appointments, and meetings, and discussion, and consultations for advice. Blossom Birthing center has been the absolute best for their experience with both doctors and hospitals in the Bay. I am very grateful to them.
After living through that stress, I now finally feel we have everything in order.

BABY: After our most recent ultrasound this week, Dr. Hill has assured us that baby Olive is no longer at risk with placenta previa!! This is fantastic news and will make it so that I have a better chance of having the natural relaxing birth that I am hoping and training for. At the end of the day modern medicine doesn't bother me too much, but if my body can do this on its own I want to allow it the best chance.

BUSY WEEK: At 33 weeks and 2 days I have hopped on a plane headed for Chicago for my last and final pre-pregnancy trip! I feel great, and barely feel a difference to my normal - besides the weight I have gained, and got the doctor ok so I wasn't worried.
It was wonderful being able to attend Sebastian and Bethany's wedding and see everyone one last time!
Pictures to come in the next bog post!

May 25th, 2016 -- 32 WEEKS!!!!! Decided to bare it all to get the true belly shots :D