Guest Post on Rose Knows Health

I was asked by Rose Medical Center (the hospital where I will be delivering Liam) to write a post on their blog about why I chose Rose and unmedicated childbirth. It was a lot of fun to do this little write up and I'm flattered that they even asked me to do it.

Check out the blog post here and feel free to leave your thoughts and comments. Thank you! Have a great weekend.

Ikea Comes to Denver!

This week Ikea had their grand opening in Denver! (Okay, technically it's in Centennial which is less than half an hour away) I have been waiting for this for a long time. I've never lived in such close proximity to an Ikea before.

Some of the girls and I had to check it out. See how excited we were:

*I seriously look crazy, hah.

Even though it was opening week everything went so smoothly. Parking was easy, it wasn't too crowded, the lines weren't too long. It felt like any regular trip to Ikea. Kudos to them for making this shopping trip so painless. 

I am SO thankful that they're here because we really needed to add some extra seating to our living room. I feel horrible when people come over and have to sit on the floor. And with Liam making his arrival soon I know we'll have many visitors. I was able to get two very comfy chairs for $70 each. Wowzers! 

Love it!

I plan to return soon to pick up some curtains that they were sold out of. I loathe the closet doors in Liam's room so I plan on removing them and putting up curtains instead. Can't wait! 

Birth Plan

I have to say, I was not a fan of coming up with a birth plan. Every time I thought about writing one up I instantly felt lethargic and thought, "Do I really have to write up a birth plan??" I just didn't want to be that lady that waddled into labor and delivery with a thick manual dictating every little detail of what I wanted my experience to be like. It seemed like that would just be setting myself up for disappointment. Plus, those ladies are just annoying (uhhh...no offense to any of those ladies out there...).

However, after talking to my midwife at my last appointment I decided I would come up with a little one page bullet-point list of desires so that we are all on the same page. I'm sure I won't want to be discussing my wants in the middle of painful contractions so it's easier if everyone knows up front.

I thought I'd share a little bit of my birth plan on here to give you an idea of what I came up with and maybe it'll help some other mamas-to-be who are feeling a little overwhelmed with writing up a birth plan.

• My labor support person is: My husband, Alexander Acevedo.
• I would like the following people to attend the birth of my baby: Alex Acevedo - husband. Kristabel Lopez - mother. 
• I would like to walk as much as possible during labor.
• I would like to use the hot tub during labor.
• I would like to use the following comfort measures during labor: breathing techniques, birth ball, different positions, squat bar, walking, massage, hot tub, music, cold compresses, warm compresses, whatever works.
• Please do not offer medications to me. I will request them if I feel they are needed. 
• I prefer intermittent rather than continuous fetal monitoring.
• I would like to take photos and video during labor and birth.
• I would like to avoid an episiotomy as much as possible.
• I would like coaching on when and when not to push.
• I would like to avoid a C-section unless absolutely necessary.
• I would like my husband and I to be a part of the decision-making process. 
• I would like the baby placed on my chest right after delivery. 
• I would like my husband to cut the umbilical cord.
• I do not want to be separated from my newborn during procedures.
• I plan to breastfeed exclusively. 
• I would like to meet with a lactation consultant while at the hospital.
• Please do not give my baby any supplemental feedings or offer a pacifier without discussing it with me first.
• I do not want my baby to be circumcised. 

That's the gist of it all. I know things don't always go to plan and that giving birth can be unpredictable. Right now sitting in a hot tub during contractions sounds fantastic...but maybe when the time comes I won't want to. And that's okay. I'm willing to be flexible and listen to my body. I just want to let my body do its thing, my body was made for this and knows what to do. 

Week 37

We've made it to full term! That means Baby can come any time now and he'll be perfectly fine. I have to say though, I don't feel he'll be coming any time soon. I haven't had any signs of labor, not even braxton hicks. Oh well, I'm okay with that. I really want him to wait until my mom's in town.

So here's a quick update on the nursery in case you were wondering... Insurance isn't covering anything, but that's okay because there honestly was not much damage done. We're very blessed. We have decided to buy a window bubble for that window to hopefully prevent any water from leaking through. We have also contacted a carpet cleaning company to take care of that room and leave it looking and smelling good. They're coming on Monday which means we have to move all the furniture out. That's right. We have to take everything out of that room and then put it all back again. A tedious process but that means the room will be absolutely perfect once Liam makes his arrival. 

Also, I've been sooo procrastinating on packing my hospital bag. I debated even packing one since so many people say you won't need half the stuff you bring. But yesterday I finally made a list of the essentials and will be putting it all together this week. Any final recommendations from the mamas out there? 

For week 37 we wanted to introduce you to 37th ave. in Stapleton. This is one of the newer communities in Denver and actually used to be Denver's main airport. They've torn that down and built a whole new community with lots of nice residences, businesses, schools, etc. This Denver neighborhood is filled with the cutest little houses you'll ever see. It's also a bit on the ritzy side so we probably wouldn't ever live there. I think the best part of Stapleton, though, is that this is the location of the Super Target we frequent. I looove Super Target and having one just ten minutes from my front door is great.

It's A Boy!

My sister is 18 weeks pregnant now and today we found out...it's a boy! I guess the Lopez girls are good at producing males (our other sister has a boy named Aiden already). I can't wait to get these three boy cousins together. They're going to have so much fun.

I love you Nephew! We'll meet you soon.

Goodbye Red

Jaxon isn't the only one who made a trip to the salon this week. I decided that it was time for me to say goodbye to the red hair. I love red hair. I'm jealous of every natural redhead in this world. It's such a unique, fun, vibrant color. So for the past year I was attempting to fit in with all the beautiful redheads out there...but it's high maintenance...especially for a girl like me with such naturally dark hair.

So with Liam on the way I decided that it was time for a more low-maintenace color that I wouldn't have to worry about retouching so much. I visited The Parlour in the Highlands and met with Chad to figure out what to do with my mane. Let me just say, I loved my experience. The salon itself has a great atmosphere and Chad was amazing to work with. He's so friendly and talented. I'm relieved that after six months of living in Denver I have finally found my hair stylist. Every girl knows how important the hairstylist-client relationship is. You have to find the perfect match!

In the end we dyed my hair very dark (close to my natural color) and left a few medium brown pieces sticking out underneath to add a bit of dimension. Next time we may try to make those pieces a bit more blonde.

It was fun being a redhead for a while and maybe some day I'll give it another shot, but for now I'm loving my dark color...we all know I can't go too long without changing my hair up just a little bit. ;-)

Before and After

Poor Jaxon was looking like a Scruff McGuff with all his fur. These summer days are too hot for him to walk around like that. We made an appointment to get him all groomed up and he is looking fine. Now he looks less like a bear and more like a lion. What a cutie.

Before:

After:

Week 36

It's hard to believe how fast the weeks seems to be rolling by. I've started my weekly midwife appointments. This week's appointment was great. Liam is still healthy and growing. The midwife felt my belly and determined that he's approximately 5.5-6 pounds and he's in the head down position. But he's also "sunny side up." It's not a huge problem, but if he stays in that position for labor it'll be extra painful. From what I hear back labor is no picnic. She gave me some exercises to do to hopefully move him to the anterior position. 

We also found a pediatric practice that we really like for Liam. We were able to tour the facility and ask questions about their philosophies and I think we'll really like this place. They seem to be really open with their patients and willing to take the time to discuss everything to make the parents comfortable. They have an integrative approach to medicine that I really appreciate. 

For this week's photo we went just two blocks down from our house to Schafer Park. Jaxon and I walk here everyday. There's a lot of grass and trees and a little playground for kids. I imagine when Liam is here we'll all walk down together. I love that Denver is full of parks and playgrounds and that we don't even have to get into our car to enjoy one of these lovely parks. 

Civic Center Eats!

I had been hearing about these food trucks that gather at the Civic Center Park every Tuesday and Thursday during the summer and really wanted to check it out. Lucky for us, Thursday is Alex's day off from work (yay!) so yesterday we headed out with our friend, Brian, to see what all the fuss was about.

The event is called Civic Center EATS and, as I mentioned above, it occurs every Tuesday and Thursday from 11am - 2pm. It's pretty massive. I think there were about 30 food trucks serving up everything from pizza to burgers to salads to ice cream to biscuits to gyros... So much food! I decided to try a delicious arepa stuffed with cheese and sweet plantains. Alex had a concoction that he created from the "build-your-own-bowl" truck. Brian had a biscuit from the Biscuit Bus and the most delicious fried mashed potato balls from Stick It To Me.

There was so much I wanted to try that I think we'll be going back every Thursday until the event ends in September. I think it's my duty as a Denver citizen to make sure that all these food trucks are providing the most delicious food possible. :-) Let us know if you'd like to join us on our weekly culinary adventure!

I wish we had taken more pictures, but we were too busy stuffing our faces.

flooding update...yep, another one

We had another crazy storm last night. It was scary. I haven't seen that much lightning in a long time. The water was just pouring down and once again it was seeping into Liam's room. Fortunately, we were prepared this time! We knew exactly where it would be coming in from so we armed ourselves with towels and a wet vac and soaked up as much water as we could as it was coming in. We did a pretty good job and thankfully the carpet is just a little moist and only right next to the exterior wall.

Still waiting to hear back from our insurance...though it looks like they may not cover anything...lame. Either way, I woke up in a pretty good mood this morning because we were able to prevent a lot of damage to the room. I know many people haven't been quite so lucky. So yeah, it sucks, and it's inconvenient, but we're blessed to not have any considerable damage to any of Liam's furniture. Now I'm just praying no mold starts growing in there while we wait to get it fixed. Mold is gross.

Thanks for prayers, friends. We truly appreciate them!

Film Fun

I love digital photography, I do. But there's nothing like film. I don't shoot nearly as often as I should...but every once in a while I'll pull out my beloved Olympus OM-10 or Canon AE-1 and do some shooting.

Here are just a few photos from last month...

P.S. I finally joined Pinterest... Still trying to figure out how it all works. If you want an invite, let me know!

Week 35

This week in the pregnancy has certainly been an interesting one. I was hoping to show you pictures of the baby's room this week (since we finally had everything ready!) but the flooding issue I blogged about previously has put a halt to those plans. Oh well. You'll have to wait a little while longer.

I've been growing increasingly uncomfortable and I can't believe there's still about a month to go. I kind of don't know what to do with myself. Other than pre-washing all the cloth diapers, I'm pretty much ready for baby to be here. I keep having dreams about labor and delivery. In one that I had last night I had a fast delivery (just a few hours, wouldn't that be nice?!) and Liam turned out to be a girl so we changed his name to Isabel. Hah. I definitely would not want that to happen. I've fallen in love with this little boy in my belly and will be very confused if a girl pops out.

My back pain is pretty much constant, sleeping consistently throughout the night isn't happening, my appetite is kind of up and down, and I have to pee constantly. But I'm really okay with all of that because my boy is healthy ad growing and always wiggling around. I guess that's a mama's love. Liam is pretty much done developing all his organs, etc and is now just putting on weight. Hopefully he doesn't put on too much weight! It's crazy to think that he could be born at any moment and be perfectly healthy. I'm hoping he'll bake a little longer though...at last until my mom arrives to help us out.

For this week's picture we went to Platter River on 35th. I've seen people kayaking and even swimming in this river. People bring their dogs here to have some water play time...Jaxon isn't a water dog...we tried once and it didn't work out. There's also a bike trail along the river. Maybe I'll bring my good ol' bike out here once the baby is born. I also wouldn't mind giving kayaking a try. For now I'll just enjoy looking at the water.

[It's been raining every day this week, which is why I have the umbrella]

flooding update

Well...it seems that we're going to have to tear up that carpet as well as some dry wall to fix the flooding problem in Liam's room. Right now we're waiting to hear from our insurance and then we'll have to get a contractor for the job. I'm not going to lie...I cried when I first heard about all the work that would need to be done. At 35 weeks pregnant the last thing I want to hear is that we have to tear up the baby's room that we've been working so hard on for the past several weeks. It was finally all coming together and now it'll have to be taken apart. ::BIG SIGH::

I've made my peace with the situation. Liam will be sleeping in our room anyway. I know it'll all work out and it's best to remedy the situation now rather than later. I'm not stressing over it anymore. It's hard not to be upset...I want to meet the guy that flipped this house and yell at him for cutting corners that put us in this situation. But it's best to remain as stress-free as possible and remember that God is in control of the situation. He will provide the right contractor to finish the job as quickly as possible (without cutting corners!) and He will provide the money we need to make our baby's room safe and comfortable.

Thanks again for all your prayers. We really appreciate them and would ask that you continue to remember us...pray especially for my attitude and to remain joyful as we wait for Liam to make his way into the world. :-)

flooding

Well, it seems we have a slight flooding problem in Liam's room...

Yesterday, after enjoying a gorgeous sunny morning with my husband on his day off, we arrived at home just in time before the sky turned black and hail and rain came pouring down. All the thunder and lightning was pretty scary but I was relieved we had made it home and taken Jaxon on a walk before all the craziness ensued. We decided to check on Liam's room since just a few weeks before, our neighbor who lives on the other side of the duplex had experienced a pretty bad flooding problem in the bedroom downstairs. I walked into Liam's room and there were little wet spots on the carpet. I still didn't think it was the rain...I thought maybe Jaxon had a few accidents while we were gone...but upon further inspection we realized the rain water was seeping in through the floor on the side of the room that faces the outside. It got pretty bad. That entire side of the room quickly became soaked and we moved everything out of there so it wouldn't get damaged. We tweeted what was going on and soon the Barleys braved the flooded streets of Denver (the streets were seriously like rivers!) and came over to help Alex build a make-shift tarp to cover the window to the room. They also helped us lay down towels on the carpet to soak up the moisture. Soon after that the Turneys (who just moved here this week!) offered to let us use their wet vac to really soak up all that water. So Alex worked really hard last night and some this morning before going to work to get that room dry. It's still a little wet but much better than it was before.

We have someone coming out this afternoon to take a look at the window, basement, room, etc to see what the problem is and how to fix it asap! The fact that our baby is due in about a month makes me both annoyed and grateful... I'm annoyed because this feels like the last thing I need to worry about when I'm making final preparations for our boy to join us in this home. But I'm also grateful it happened now and not when the baby is here and living in that room. No first-time mom wants to deal with a newborn and a flood problem at the same time. I probably would have broken down into tears if that were the case.

I'm thankful for friends who helped us out yesterday and for everyone who offered up prayers. I think the situation is really not as bad as it could have been had we not discovered the leak early on. And I'm confident that the problem will be fixed and we will no longer have flooding issues to deal with. My only prayer now is that it isn't too expensive. Having a baby is expensive enough without adding all these extra costs to it. Either way, God will bring us through it and soon this will just be a memory that we will share with Liam when he's older.

Again thank you everyone for your help and prayers...please continue to pray that no more water comes in the room (it's supposed to rain all weekend and into next week) and that we can fix the problem as quickly and cost-efficiently as possible.

rain gutter bookshelves

In an effort to keep costs down with the nursery I've been looking all over the internet for inexpensive DIY ideas. I stumbled upon these ideas on babble.com and fell in love with the rain gutter bookshelves featured. I showed the idea to Alex and he was on board. We went down to Home Depot, paid five bucks for a long rain gutter, and Alex cut them down to size at home using a saw. He drilled them to the wall the other night and it looks great! I love how easily accessible the books will be for Liam. And I really love how inexpensive and easy this was to do. Tomorrow I'll be going down to the used book store to see what children's books I can find. I hope they have a good selection.

The nursery is allllmost finished, which is good because we've only got about a month to go until Liam is here! Can't wait to share the finished product.

Another Maternity Shoot

I love having talented friends! One of Alex's co-workers is a photographer and she offered to do a maternity session for us. Of course I jumped on the offer because I love photos and I thought it would be fun to have some portraits done in our new city.

We were finally able to schedule the photo shoot last week and I am so happy with the result! The photos look amazing. I can't thank Jessica enough for taking these photographs for us. Please check out her website and hire her!

Week 34

We've made it to week 34 and I'm feeling...well, I'm feeling a roller coaster of emotions! Most of the time I am just so excited, sometimes I'm gripped by fear or anxiety. Alex is a champ of a husband and deals with me in the best way possible. I had another midwife appointment this week and everything is just perfect with Liam. At this point I've gained 30 pounds, eek! My midwife says my weight gain is perfect but I can't help but feel freaked out by that number. My next appointment is at 36 weeks and then I'll be going every week after that...crazy! The day when Liam makes his appearance into the world is getting closer and closer.

For this week's picture we would like to welcome you to our home just off of 34th Ave. It's a cozy little duplex that we love. We purchased this home in December and moved into it in January. I feel so blessed to live here. Decorating our first home has been so much fun. It's constantly evolving as we come up with new ideas and make room for baby. Feel free to stop on by to pay a visit to the Acevedo family.