updates

Still no baby but my phone is fixed.

Please don't suggest spicy food, walking, sex, pineapple, jump-roping, blue or black cohosh, pressure points, or any other myth that is supposed to induce labor.

They don't work, especially with my child who is bound and determined to enter this world on his own terms. I love his determination, just not his feet up in my ribs.

Merry Christmas, I will be taking my computer to hospital whenever this baby finally comes out so I will keep you posted with pictures and details.

Peace...Teresa

phone issues

no, I haven't had the baby. and to boot, my phone is jacked. They are mailing me a new one Tuesday. So, until then it is a crapshoot. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. So, if you text or call and I don't answer... don't get tooo excited, this kid is being stubborn! lol! I will keep updated on myspace and you can IM me....sweetsuprstar.

down to days.

I am down to only 16 days left until I am due. I am praying to the good Lord above that he takes mercy on my very large, stretched out stomach and brings this little man into the world early!

A little scare recently I wanna share. I went to the doctor at 35 weeks and they had me go to the hospital for a sonogram to check the size of the baby because he is measuring large, When I went she measured the baby at 6lbs 13oz already! yikes! My big boy! That was fine, but his stomach was measuring much larger than it should have been and I had higher than normal levels of amniotic fluid, so they thought I might have gotten gestational diabetes late in the pregnancy.

I went to the lab and did my 3 hour diabetes testing after 12 hours of fasting(yeah, don't try that on a pregnant woman!) and tested completely clear. So basically, I have a big baby with a lot of fluid.

This past week (my 37 week appt) I was measuring at 40 weeks. They checked me and I am 1 cm dilated and they stripped my membranes(ouch) to get things started since I'm officially full term. I have had inconsistent and too short of contractions since, but I am hoping at least they are dilating me! I go back to the doctor this Wednesday and I start my maternity leave after this Friday! I am walking, eating spicy food and pineapple(both things I read help out) taking lots of stairs and everything I am reading that will coax this sucker out!

So pray this man makes his grand entrance soon and maybe not too extremely large!

the countdown.

We are officially in the countdown...7 weeks to go. So with that comes the baby pool. I had people making predictions yesterday so I thought, ok...lets make this official.


So go online and place your vote on my online babypool. No money necessary...just your thoughts on all the details...

http://www.expectnet.com/games/NEDAYNOW

Other than that things are going well. I am still working daily and will do so until this baby is born. I am exhausted after a full day but I have no clue what I would do at home everyday until a baby was born other than wait...haha. Plus I feel like the 3 flights of stairs i trudge up and down daily will help Declan make his way out much earlier than if I was just laying around at home eating bon bons daily! (although that is super tempting).


And here is some advice to anyone who may be pregnant and not as far along, thinking about having a baby(warnings), and mommies who have been there and may laugh a bit at my lack of knowledge of these recent happenings.

1. Don't sneeze or laugh too hard, apparently you are unable to control your bladder after 32 weeks.
2. Sleep on the outside of the bed and have a husband handy to roll you out when you have to pee a zillion times a night.
3. Get your sweet sweet hubby/significant other some quality earplugs...because snoring is inevitable...
4. Don't pull out a pair of prepregnancy pants and 'just see' if they still fit. It will throw you into a shame spiral and you will gain about 2 lbs from the ice cream you eat in response to heal your ego and wounds.
5. Don't drop anything, apparently at this stage in the game, bending over to pick up items off the floor is a pregnant woman's olympic event.
6. Invest in some slip on shoes, or an amazing husband who is willing to help you out with putting on shoes.
7. Think about the amount of toilet paper you usually buy...now triple it. You will be running out of it quicker than you realize.
8. two words...scented candles. Pregnancy is not always pretty smelling.

Hmmm..I think that may be it for now. I can't wait to see my son and hold his beautiful little face and plant sick amount of kisses all over him. I've waited for this moment what seems like forever and it is surreal thinking that I am going to seriously, finally be a mom, and patrick is seriously going to be a dad. wow... there is no going back now :) YAY!

Newest Pics.

Here are some pics of recent stuff...

my 28 weeks belly.


Our changing table


The crib



Pregnancy is going really good. I am officially in my 3rd trimester. December is coming so quick and we are so ready for little mister Declan. The room is painted, the crib and changing table are together and I have massive amounts of clothes from my amazing friends who have a lil boy and others who have bought me stuff! I am so blessed!

It is defintely tough working full time while pregnant. I love my job and love my students, but being up by 6:30am every morning and wokring til about 5 every night is quickly wearing me out. I appreciate that I will have a couple months of maternity leave to make up for it!

a dose of reality

People who say pregnancy is easy are complete liars. My child literally grinds into my ribs, I get charlie horses during the middle of the night, my back aches, I am tired a lot, and apparently now I snore at night.

I can't wait for my sweet baby boy, but let me tell you, I am working for him!

everything is coming together

So here I am...23 weeks into pregnancy. I can still see my feet, which is a fantastic thing. My stomach is getting real tight though, I am starting to wonder how on earth this baby is going to get bigger inside my stomach. How much bigger can I get?? Can a 8lb living being really reside in this already cramped quarters? He's gonna have too.


So, updates...

1.) I got my crib and crib set. The crib is this adorable cherry wood sleigh crib and the crib set is a modern geometric design with blue, brown and a light green. Its fabulous. I couldn't stand any of the crap at babies r us. Why do boys HAVE to have rooms with puppies, transportation vehicles, or baseballs all over them. PLEASE, don't get me wrong here. I would love for my son to love all of the above items, but to plaster them all over their bodies and bedding? anywho....

2.) I screamed at the cable guy. Yep...I did. I pulled a Miranda from sex and the city moment yelling about the failing tivo. For some reason I was brought to tears as I tried to replug in the cable so I could at least watch The Hills and in the moment I realized that I was unable to watch the crappy MTV show thats nonsense brings a little smile to my face, I realized that someone needed a good shouting too, and it was the Time Warner Cable man. I yelled about the injustice of the constant breaking of the dvr machine. For some reason, this mission, it made me feel better. That and the Ben and Jerry's that quickly followed. I wasn't craving it, I just felt I deserved it. And I did...I worked hard that day.

3.) I start school September 4th. I have already started in my classroom. I will have 5th grade this year. Remember, I teach in the Bronx and last year I had children telling me to "f" off, eat things I would never consider and...well... I am not Jackie Joyner Kersey so I was defintely not willing to chase the crazy's around the hallway. This year I already know I have about 5 who are deemed 'difficult'. When a teacher writes difficult on the paper for the next teacher what they really mean is, prep the xanax...you are in for a bumpy ride.

Nothing else really exciting just yet. Declan is still my super active son. Every once in a while I give him a little nudge and tell him to be nice to his mommy. I mean, I am like carrying the kid aorund in my body, letting him kick around and move at his leisure. I mean, if you give an inch the kid will take a mile, so I am beginning the discipline now....knock off the stretching into my ribcage little buddy and I will feed you some yummy cake. I know, I know, It is a tough negotiation but you have to do what you have to do!

last but not least, tiny shout out to meredith...hope your weekend goes well! Feel free to send me any amazing prego tidbits that have to be included in my blog!! Congrats on everything! I am soooo happy for you!!

My Active Baby Boy

So one thing Patrick and I have already come to accept is that Declan is one active child even in utero.

Whenever we go to the doctor and she attempts to check the heartbeat, she always tells us that he is very active and she gets the heartbeat but then he moves so she has to find it again. Then, this last time, she looked at us and went, "you have an extrememly active baby, you are going to want to prepare yourselves"....haha. Thank you Doc, I expect nothing else from the spawn of Teresa and Patrick Murphy.

So, the last couple weeks I have defintely felt movement from our little peanut, but nothing like I have recently. It may have a lot to do with our baby now weighing 14 oz. Anywho... I got some Baby Genius CD's and classical music cd's and have been playing them through some headphones to our little guy. After about 2 or 3 minutes, he lets me know that he either REALLY likes the music, or REALLY hates it. He is like a ninja warrior in a Jackie Chan movie...kicking every which way. I imagine him holding onto the umbilical cord and moving in circles around it kicking as he moves.

The best part is that I like him to hear Patrick's voice a lot, so Patrick put some of his worship sets from Sunday mornings on my ipod and I played them for the first time last night. I actually had to take the headphones off because he was kicking me/moving around so hard that it was hurting. He loves his daddy already!! He also loves when Patrick reads books to him. Yes, we are THOSE people. I'm hoping we are giving him an intellectual edge. :)

Other than that, Monday's doctors appointment really got me freaking out about the reality of our situation. Until Monday I was like, "I still have about 4 months to get all of this stuff ready!!" Then when we found out we were having a little boy it made it all the more real!! I was like, "Oh my gosh, we only have 4 months to get ready! I have no clue what I am doing!!"

See here's the thing, I have babysat a lot and my degree is in Early Childhood Studies, so I know a fair amount about children. But I have NO CLUE what kind of stuff I need for everyday, all day long care of a baby! I made my friend Tara go with me and show me what to register for at Babies R Us because I was clueless to the extent of what I would need. So we did all the small and necessary stuff I didn't know I needed, and then Patrick and I went back and registered for all the big, fun items like swings, bouncers, car seats, etc.

So I am officially registered at both target and babies r us. One thing off my list. My amazing sister got my parents and brother and sister in law together to pitch in for an awesome stroller that is already being delivered! My fantastic mother in law is purchasing our beautiful crib and we ordered our crib set last night after my sister found it half off on the internet!!

So, after freaking out a bit Monday, I'm on track as much as I can be! Our roomies are both moving out by the end of August and then we can start rearranging room and painting and setting up the baby's room!! This is surreal. I have always felt like being a mom is exactly what i should be doing with my life, and now it is literally around the corner and I will have a beautiful little red headed (hopefully :) )baby boy in my arms. I can hardly wait!!

And it's a ......

BOY!!!

Yeah for the newest little Murphy boy!!

SOOO SOOOOONNNN!!!

Less than 3 full days until we find out if we are having a boy or a girl! Monday Morning I am scheduled for my ultrasound and I am beyond excited!!

hey friends...
I have no clue how, but somehow I am deleting comments from people and I don't know how...hahaha. Rachel, you had a sweet post and I looked up and it was all of the sudden gone. I don't know how ladies and gents but I am magically deleting and have no clue how. So if I have deleted you comment, nothing personal...I am just an idiot on the website....haha.


Love love...
come back august 6th for the sex reveal....boy or girl?? we will soon know!

Travel time....

So, I got a taste of what traveling with babies will be like when I finally have my little wonder... :)

I went to Fort Myers and flew there with a close friend. We sit in our seats, after a scuffle with a woman who moved her 3 seats that were scattered all over the plane into our row, and finally settle in for the 2 and a half hour flight to our tropical vacation. I have my little 2 year old buddy sitting with me. The plane takes off and no kidding, within 2 minutes, as we are still ascending, he starts puking ALL over me, ALL over the carpet, and doesn't stop. After mom takes him back to change him, he gets back and starts puking more. All we could do was laugh at knowing we still had 2 more hours on the flight. Luckily, we made it to Fort Myers with no more puking and I had a great time visiting my Miss Young in Fort Myers :)

In other news...we have made our appointment for our anatomy scna to find out if our little bean is a boy or a girl!!

August 6th we find out at 11am and CANNOT wait to know!!

We also have decided on some pretty amazing Irish names for our baby!

If it is a boy, we are going to name him Declan (pronounced DECK-lan) which means "full of goodness" and was the name of a 5th century missionary in Ireland.

If it is a girl, her name will be Maeve (pronounced MAY-v) which means "intoxicating" or "daughter of song" and was a 1st century warrior queen of Ireland.

Obviously, we are going for some seriously Irish names, I mean, with a name like MURPHY, why wouldn't we???

So, thats about it for now. At my last appointment they said everything looked great and the baby was very active since they couldn't get him/her to stop moving l0ong enough for an accurate heart beat!! Finally, after several minutes, she got it and we have a speed racer at 160 bpm.

Nothing else really...and since I got such a POOR response from my last question...I will ask it again because I am curious of the response....

Do you think we are having a boy or a girl??

From no sleeping to ridiculous

So my last post I spoke of an insomniac issue I had for, oh, maybe 1 week. So I think yesterday began my nocturnal stage of pregnancy, that we can only hope will only last a very short period of time.

I come home on:
a) a rainy day (so you already know how sleepy one can get)and
b) a half day of school, where the second half of my school day was used to finish clerical duties...which is beyond boring and mind numbing.

So I arrive home thinking, a nice little nap will do my mind good. I can wake up refreshed and ready to do SOMETHING. This was at 5:30pm.

I sleep until 7:30 where my hunger pangs actually wake me up. I guess my 11:30 lunch wasn't quite holding me over. I eat some chicken and watermelon and talk to my roomie for a little while. Then, around 8:15 I think, why don't I go back in my room and throw a movie on my computer since I have some time to kill before Patrick comes home. Don't you know I fell asleep until about 4:30 this morning, where I wake up bright eyed and bushy tailed thinking, what the heck am I doing awake! I ate some cereal and I guess it was just enough to get me to fall back asleep until 6:45.

So, you would think I was a refreshed little angel today, but all I have been thinking about is going straight back to that super comfy pillow top mattress I love so dearly and getting an afternoon nap in!! Hey man, I AM sleeping for 2 now!!

Other than that, I am doing great. Went to the doctors again and heard our little beans heartbeat which is good. Planned a trip to Fort Myers to visit my fav family the Youngs. Which brought me to an extremely important question,

How does a pregnant woman flip to tan both sides equally when sun bathing? I mean, I don't wanna come back from Florida with a toasty front and a mayonaissey back side?? So, I am currently planning on looking for seashells or floating in the ocean in a meshy thing that will allow me to lay on my belly.

Last comment/question:

Let's take a vote....
Do you think the Murphy's are having a boy or a girl??


ok...I'm out...read and respond...

more no no's, sleep problems, and first craving :)

ok, So Patrick and I went to see the movie Knocked Up! Moments were painful to watch (Seth Rogen didn't always have the right words to say..haha) but it was extrememly hilarious, and reminded me of some new things you better never say to me. I know that may come off as harsh, but I feel like being up front and honest and keeping it real is better than walking away from a conversation with you pissed off at a comment! ha,....love me. Anyways...

somewhat along the same lines as #1, number 2 deals with weight and 'giganticness' of a pregnant woman's growing body. It goes something like this.

2. Attacker: "Wow, you look like you are ready to pop.", Innocent pregnant beauty: "I'm due in 2 months" Attacker: "Are you sure?"

No genius. I miscalculated the growth of the human I have inside of me. You must be right seeing as thought you are just looking at the outside of my body and determining my due date. Would you like my doctor's phone number to give them the updated information?

Another favorite part of the movie actually brought me to the next comment not to make. I don't think anyone in particular would actually dare to say this, but we will put it on the list as a precautionary.

3. "Wow, that milk came in fast didn't it" (said during first months of pregnancy).

For those who may not know, milk won't be in for quite a while, and my breasts are not for you to stare at and decide whether or not they are becoming full. If you want more information on that feel free to contact patrick@originsnyc.com . He can give you the FULL updates. :) (i think I'm so funny)


As far as everything else goes, I have been having some sleep issues lately. Yesterday I was EXHAUSTED, which is totally common and expected for a woman in her first trimester (which I will be ending soon!!) So, at a pathetic 8:30 pm I lay down to watch a movie and fall asleep. I figure, this will be fine and tomorrow I will wake up refreshed for school.

INSTEAD, I wake up at midnight and can't fall back asleep until 4am. I can't tell you how hard it was to wake up at 6:30 this morning!! I guess my body/mind is attempting to prepare me for a newborn. My dear friend Tara's beautiful little girl in quite the nocturnal miracle and enjoys 4 am cuddle fests with someone. I am sure I screwed myself over by napping tonight from 6-9pm. I am never going to sleep normal again. Welcome to motherhood I guess....minus the crying and pooping and stuff.

During my insomniac fest last night, I was watching season four of the Simpsons, which happens to be the best season they have released on DVD in my opinion. Its about 3AM at this point and I am laying there pissed off that I am still awake. Then it happened. I couldn't get this string cheese that was in the bottom drawer of my fridge out of my mind. I thought, don't do it Teresa, you don't need those extra calories at 3AM. But then the thoughts consumed my mind. 'That stringy yumminess would just slide right down the throat right about now...do it Teresa, do it." I think at that point, my 3 month old fetus actually grew a tiny little persuading voice. I jumped out of bed and ate that string cheese like it was my business. Then, baby persuading fetus told me, "Wouldn't that green apple be the best chaser to that string cheese?". I said NO to persuading baby fetus, but the persistence of the voice caused to cave. I couldn't help it. I am already a sucker for my kid, giving in to his/her every desire.

I guess I should be glad I am craving such healthy snacks. Baby Fetus could have told me to go for a jar of crisco and oreos or something dangerous like that. Thank you sweet baby fetus for sparing be abnormal weight gain in your first weeks of life.

Ok, time to put on the next disc of Simpsons and coax myself to sleep. Love you all...
Teresa

Rules on How to Talk to a pregnant Woman.

yes, that's right, some people are dumb. People don't always have this preconceived common sense that I, as a considerate human being, would expect people to have. Luckily, none of these have been directed to me, but in efforts to avoid massive beating in my months of emotional tyraids to come, I feel it necessary to give warning and disperse any notions that some things are ok to say to a pregnant woman. They simply are not and the following is a journal about some rules I am laying down. I am going to be firm so don;t try to get away with breaking the rule.

So, as a pregnant woman doing her part to be the best mommy in the world, I have made every effort to become the most informed ever. I have 3 different motherhood books, including the infamous "What to Expect When Your Expecting" and others...Thanks to my sis Tera for sending me a fantastic book all the way from Ohio too!

Anyways, in parts of this effort, I have also joined an online discussion group for woman who are due in December. Yes, I am that person. We talk about symptoms, funny stories, doctors visits, fears, etc. I have found it oh so helpful to know others, even if in the cyber world, who also are in this same stage of life as me.

So, as I am reading these posts, someone has the marvelous idea to say "lets start posting pics of our bellies so we can keep track of each others growth!!" I thought, there is no way I am posting my gut up there yet, but heck, lets see the other bellies!! So, this brave first woman posts her 8 week belly. If you are not very knowledgeable of pregnancy, technically most woman don't show that early, but this woman was. You can tell from the picture she has an extremely small frame so, to me, it made sense. Plus, the smile and joy on the glowing woman who is excited to bring a new life into the world was priceless. If my gut was not just cookies and bloating, I would have taken a pic that moment. Then I read the first comment which leads me to add the 1st saying no one is ever going to say to me if I have anything to say about it.

1) wow! You are huge! Are you sure there is just one baby in there?

I promise you, if these words cross your lips you will not hold my child for the first 6 months of his/her life. In fact, as a pregnant woman, I think the only person who can comment about how huge you are is yourself, half the time we will probably be saying it to get the comment "no your not!" in return. Which means....YOU all out there are hereby vetoed from making any comments on how HUGE i get.

You may, instead, use the following terms to describe my pregnancy:
glowing, radiant/radiance, brilliant, lambent, lucient, luminous, cheerful, joyful, SMALL(ha!), admirable, alluring, statuesque, razzle-dazzle, exquisite, gorgeous...
If you are at a loss for the right word, you too can go to thesaraus.com and find just the word you are looking for.

and...just a reminder, I do have a sonogram and have only 1 baby in there, so the whole 'twins' joke is hereby null and void as a funny thing to joke about.

So, I have tons more to say but my after school nap is calling my name...so, be on the lookout for more postings in the very near future about do's and don'ts that could save your relationship with me in the future...

Your favorite pregnant chick...
Teresa

1st posting.

Hey all. I wanted to put together a blog to keep everyone updated on Baby Murphy and happenings for the next several months.

Here are the easiest updates to give everyone for right now.

1) Baby Murphy will be making his/her entrance into the world on or around December 24. Go ahead and start throwing up the prayers now that I am not sitting in a hospital room eating cranberry jello and Turkey loaf on Christmas day. That means lets pray for an early delivery :)

2) I am currently 11 weeks 1 day pregnant. Yes I add on the extra day because, well... this is my first pregnancy and I can. Cut me some slack.

3) I am not feeling nearly as bad as a normal first trimester pregnant woman. No vomitting thank goodness, but I am extremely tired and have this disgusting fowl taste in my mouth all day long.

4) My doctor is awesome. I had my first appointment on May 10 and she has called me three times since. Very involved and cares about her patients which is a great thing to have.

Thats about it for right now.
Keep checking for more updates and pictures. Speaking of Pictures...here is the first one.

10 weeks.