Indicators

They say there are some indicators to tell you when you are about to start the process of having a baby.

1. Nesting - Cleaning and organizing everything in your house. Ok, so this isn't really all that different from my usual state of being so it is hard to tell when this might hit. I think it hit today. I HAD to dust and organize the cables coming out of the TV and DVD/VCR. I have no idea how I fit myself in the space behind the chair to do this but it had to be done. Right. Now. I feel much better.

2. Unusually cranky. I hope I've been a pretty upbeat and non-whiny pregnant lady the last many months. Until this week. Pretty much every thing thing either makes me really frustrated or so emotional I cry on the spot. The fact that there are 6 fantastic packages blocking my front door, it has snowed, I am sweating and hungry and exhausted made me just start bawling the other night when I got home. The delivery guys could have at least put them in a place where I could have opened the door and then brought them in, but instead stacked them all up in front of the door which meant I had to put all my other stuff down, unstack and move them, open the door, haul all of them in etc etc etc. Doesn't seem like a big deal does it? I pretty much thought the world was ending at that point ;)

As I'm sure you know, everyone will tell you what you should do to induce labor. Eat this certain thing, walk in this certain area of the city, clean this certain part of your house, balance on one foot for exactly 12.3 seconds etc. It appears to be whatever they were doing when theirs started. Which means there is a never ending list of things I should do to get this show on the road. At least I can stay occupied!

Saw the doc on Friday morning and again not much going on and we both appear to be doing well. She said she'd like me to come in next week of course so I go to make my appointment and guess what - there aren't any available. That's right, I'm out of luck. I said, do you realize my due date is Tuesday? And the receptionist said the best she could do was schedule me with the on call doctor but if that doc needed to be called away then no, I couldn't see anyone. What really irks me about this is that when we started shopping around for doctors one of our first questions was hey, we're having a holiday baby. What does your office and staff do to make sure we are taken care of around that time. And the nurse practitioner that we asked this question of was really put out that we'd even consider asking it. She became quite condescending and short with us like we had asked her to clean our toilets while we were at the hospital. She assured us that we wouldn't have a problem receiving any aspect of care over the holidays. HA! How about a better answer like 'well the office is closed on certain days so you may want to schedule something for that week now but there will always be a doctor available on call when you need them in the hospital.' Now that would have been a helpful answer. I plan to call back tomorrow morning and try again.

I'm sure when I walk in the door tomorrow every other person will ask what I am doing there. I could sit on my butt at work and get some productive things done or I could sit on my butt at home. At least at work I get paid so I plan to go there.

Stay tuned for the week to come. Most likely you'll get a call or an email from someone when there is anything to tell. You can also watch Facebook as we'll have internet in the hospital and can update my facebook status when we can.

Happy Holidays everyone - travel safe, be well and think contracting thoughts for us!

What not to say - part two

When Heiser said this will be the slowest 2 to 3 weeks of your life, she isn't kidding. It's only Monday night??? WHAT? It feels like it should be Friday already.

39 weeks ahoy. And no, I haven't had the baby. "Well of course not, we hadn't heard you had." A ha! If only everyone thought that! Today was the first day I had more than one person come up to me and ask me "Have you had the baby?" And none of these people were blind or visually impaired. And even if they were - WHY ON EARTH WOULD I BE AT WORK IF I DID? So I just have started answering 'yup, this morning' to see where it goes.

The moral of the story is, please don't ask me if I've had the baby and don't tell me it's time for me to have the baby. I get it, everyone is excited. However, I can already see this line of questioning stressing me out. So thanks in advance. Let's talk about skiing instead - where to go this year... or how many weeks until it's biking season...

Here is a pic of 39 weeks and all decorated for the holiday. This is our cute, squat and fat little tree. There are many cute, squat and fat ornaments on it which makes it just perfect. And I'm not squat, but I sure am cute and fat (in a way) so I fit in perfectly in the photo.

Have a good week!

Two weeks people, two weeks. At least until the 'due' date science gives us. Today I have definitely started to feel kiddo making his way lower - my maternity pants are becoming more like window blinds (only rolling over right in front where he's at) which is NOT very attractive or comfortable. I'm awfully pleased however that the same few pairs of pants have gotten me to this point. I may be wearing skirts and dresses a bit more to work - or at least changing out of my long underwear into them when I get there because:

MN is getting it's first actual winter storm of the season at the moment. They say we could have 6 inches or so by the end of tomorrow which naturally causes everyone to FREAK OUT. I'm not nervous about getting to the hospital if we should need to go, (I have a very good driver here and a very large truck with 4 wheel drive sitting outside) it's all the other drivers who forget to slow down you have to be freaked about. Ok, stepping down off that soap box...

This past weekend was Cookingathon 2009. Momter came up Thursday night and we spent Friday shopping for important things like nursing bras and bulk items such as frozen chicken tenders. Costco is a wonderful place - for the bulk items, not the nursing bras.

There is no way I would have been able to make the amount of food we whipped through in two days without her - lasagna, stir fry, veggie sides, crepes, enchiladas fantasticas (their real name), taco fixings, meatballs, mac and cheese, stuffed shells and probably 6 other things I can't remember right now. If kiddo has an appetite like his ma then this should last us about a week ;)

Momter also got to experience the Holidazzle parade for the first time and helped us cut our cute little Christmas tree which is up and lit and decorated. And I made her go to water aerobics with me.

After all that excitement over the weekend, Monkey spent all of Monday during the day wiggling and twisting and generally making his presence known. Momter speculated that he was so happy with all the movement that happened throughout the weekend that he wasn't pleased when I sat down all of Monday - let's hope he gets used to sitting still at some point!

This week I'm trying to stay active which helps the sciatic and hip pain be less intense and am continuing to make plans to keep myself motivated and perhaps a bit distracted. We'll take some more pictures next weekend and add them in here including ones of the freezer(s)!

36+

They tell me this kid is due in less than a month. I really hope that is true because other than us not having a finished kitchen I feel just about ready. Nursery is set up, I've read what I need to read, we took infant and child CPR last week, the car seats are getting inspected this week (amazing!) and the hospital bag is about 70% packed.

But, Ann, do you know that many time first babies are later than their due date??

Yes, thanks. We have been told that, just about 5 times less than we're having a Christmas baby. Either way it's fine, I am just thankful that we had the opportunity to get this prepared for Monkey and that he and I are so healthy thus far.

Starting on Monday I see the doc once a week until we see her in the hospital. So far we're still measuring right on track and kiddo has a fantastic heartbeat and activity level. 4am is now his new favorite time. I am still sleeping really well except for waking up every few hours to turn over as my toes are going numb. I don't start out sleeping on my back, but I sure do end up that way. And then on my back, I'm rather stuck. Try getting up with a 28 pound weight on your tummy - it's a lot harder.

We had a great Thanksgiving yesterday - spent the day relaxing at home and then headed to the Browns for an awesome meal. I really do love traditional Thanksgiving meals. Mashed potatoes, turkey and gravy...mmmm....oh, and Russ's pumpkin pie. I am really thankful that we didn't have to drive a great distance or spend a lot of time cooking all those wonderful things this year - thanks, Kat! We have some leftovers too and Russ managed to catch me in a common location these days, looking for them:



Mom is coming up this next weekend to help me finish up a few things (and get pedicures) and COOK. We'll fill up the freezers with meals we can use in the weeks after kiddo arrives. If you have a favorite freezer meal recipe, send it along.

I also enjoy this picture - note how kiddo enters the room first these days...

Oddly enough feeling a bit lighter...

You know how when you finish a project or a paper and suddenly feel a large sense of relief just because it's done and you are ready for the next thing = finally? That is how I feel this weekend now that we have the nursery just about totally ready for kiddo to come home to. Each day I'm feeling a bit slower and less energetic so I was really hoping to have that big piece of preparation done before week 35 hit - and I just made it ;) Here are some pictures as we circle his room!



Very important - toys.




Feeding corner.

Notice that the crib is on wheels...it did NOT come that way...


And the changing/clothing corner. Russ was thinking ahead and added one helpful piece of information as well, I hope you can read it:



Russ is still busy working on the kitchen - this weekend he assembled most of the cherry faceframes and is working on the beading that goes around. I'm not sure what is after that but hopefully we're near to starting to put some of them INTO the kitchen. Dishwasher here I come!

Monkey has been a mover and a shaker in the last two weeks - much more so than I noticed at all before. On Thursday the doc said he is head down and most likely will stay that way from now on. Instead of funny flutters it is starting to feel much more like stretches - a hard little bump in one spot that sort of feels like a fist. I am very thankful that things have really been very easy so far - I'm still sleeping like a champ and my feet are normal sized yet.

A few days ago I also had my first of the 'prep' contractions known as Braxton Hicks. It doesn't hurt but just feels like my abdomen is really tight for a few seconds - and you can't relax it. Now if only the real contractions felt that way...

Hiccups!

It's been a busy week or so for us. Russ spent a long last weekend in Chicago with Jan and Anna and I stayed home and worked on kiddo's room. Mostly I stayed home because an 8 hour car ride sounds just about like the 9th ring of hell at the moment. So you want pictures you say? Ha! Give me until Sunday and we'll see what we can do. We were so lucky and got TONS of clothes for Monkey between the hand me downs and gifts over the last few weeks. So I did lots of laundry and organized (who, me?) them by size so we can easily grab what fits him as he grows. Russ got some shelves hung up yesterday so we should be just about set up by Sunday. Then just looking for some decoration ideas at that point I think.

Monkey got the hiccups! It was Saturday night at about 430am. I went to the bathroom and laid back down and was so surprised to find he seemed to be dancing to a beat. But there was no beat. Went on for about 2 minutes, very funny. Haven't felt them since then.

It has been a very long week of work - 2 twelve hour days and one ten hour day and going into my last day of the week which will be nice and short. This will be the last week I agree to any 12 hour days though. I just feel awful at the end of it which isn't good for any of us (russ included!). So if you ask me to do something (and please continue to do so) and I decline don't take it personally. It's not that I would rather sleep than hang out with you. Well, actually it is at this point but this is only temporary :)

Check back later this weekend for more pictures.

What's in a name?

There are some aspects of this whole experience we are excited to learn right away and share with folks and others we aren't. What we've discovered however is that many people (most of whom you don't even know) have an opinion about every aspect of your experience that they are happy to share with you. From your due date, to finding out about your baby, to names to everything in between.

Please please please don't tell a woman with a due day around 12/25 that 'Oh! A Christmas baby! Too bad he's going to feel like he got the short end of the stick'. This assumes two things:
1. You celebrate Christmas.
2. Birthdays and Christmas are only about presents and that is how you'll raise your child.

We've had great support from friends and family about the fact that this isn't as big a deal as many people make it out to be. Kiddo won't know the difference until we teach it to him. And then he'll go to school and all bets are off, but at least we can start a good foundation.

I also really enjoyed the lady at Home Depot yesterday who told me all about the ridiculously awful birth story her friend just had. Hello, I'm still pregnant and have yet to go through that part of the deal. Perhaps you should hold that story for folks that are done with the birth part already. Plus I'm sure the guy with the box of nails behind me really wanted to hear you say the word 'vaginally' at Home Depot.

Names are also a big thing on people's minds. Just to set the record straight: the child will not be named Colter Colliton (thanks, Heiser). You all can breathe a deep sigh of relief if you thought that was the case. We are not however going to tell you what the options for his name are :) That is for Russ and I and kiddo to think about and ultimately decide once he is in our arms.

Week 33 is rapidly approaching here. I am feeling rather heavy and like I could take a long nap at any point during the day. Kiddo has some active moments but mostly he is pretty quiet as he has been the whole way through this ride so far. The doctor did say that the placenta is sort of in front and on the right side so that could be why I don't feel him as much as other women might with their babies.

This coming week will be the last of our birthing classes, a phone call to the insurance (always a pleasure) and next weekend working on getting the nursery actually set up. Russ is headed to Chicago to visit his fam and for his and my sanity we've decided I'll stay here as a long car ride is less than comfortable at this point. I'll work on sleeping, organizing and oh yeah, sleeping!