Pictures from a recent walk to our neighborhood park. Little signs of spring approaching.
Or perhaps old signs from last summer’s end? It’s hard to tell.
Even when the temperatures are warm and the air feels divine, just the slightest breeze can make picture taking difficult. Hold still!
Doesn’t this make you want to make a bird feeder?
Holy cupcake indeed, Batman. This is our last Bump Report folks – the last time I’ll have some reclusive vegetable to compare to my baby and the last week I’ll be carrying said baby in my stomach (that sounds like cause for celebration to me). Seriously I’m all nervous and impatient at the same time right now. This past week has been a bit brutal – like tired all the time, my body hurts EVERYWHERE and suddenly for the first time in my pregnancy I’m getting swollen hands and feet. I mentioned this phenomenon to the doctor, just to be sure it didn’t mean there was a major problem, and of course it’s not – she recommended putting my feet up, drinking more and watching my sodium intake. I took that to mean, “Stop working so hard, enjoy a glass of lemonade and opt for a sweet dessert over a salty one.” Doctors orders, right? And our lemonade (looooooove Simply Lemonade btw) is very low in sodium. All joking aside, I know I haven’t been drinking as much water as usual – it’s hard to want to guzzle down all those glasses when each one sends me to the bathroom two or three times. My bad. In the meantime, none of my shoes fit and my stomach is starting to feel like a dam that may burst at any minute (which is a funny comparison when you consider the whole “water breaking” thing – I’m hoping I can avoid that happening what with the whole planned cesarean).
The cloth diapering preparation seems to be going well. I still want to pick up a cheap trash can to store our diaper pail liner in but we stopped by this cute local store, Happy Bambino, and picked up an extra dozen prefolds and two more waterproof covers. So now we’ll have two brands of prefolds to try (and more importantly I won’t have to wash the diapers MORE than once a day hopefully) and we’ve got the waterproof covers so we can start as soon as we are ready now. The pail liner and cloth wipes came in the mail yesterday along with the Gerber prefolds so the only things we’re lacking are the Snappis which are on their way and the cuuuuuuute waterproof covers which are not on their way anytime soon according to Amazon (hence the trip to Happy Bambino). Speaking of happiness and bambinos, I wanted to mention officially here for anyone who cares that that store is now my favorite place in the universe. They have everything a quasi eco-friendly wanna be granola mom could wish for – anything you could think of for your nursing, baby wearing, cloth diapering needs – they’ve got you covered. Along with cute nursing clothes, baby clothes and eco-friendly adorable toys – AND classes on things like nursing, yoga, infant massage, estate planning and oh my god more. I want to move in. Even my husband was wowed by this place – and the reason this is marginally relevant to YOU is because…
Anyway, we’ve got pretty much everything we need for that, I think, although we still want to pick up some disposables for the first couple weeks and we’ve got all that setting up to do, which is really just cleaning up so that Dan can very quickly set up the furniture before baby and I come home, without having to move plastic totes and boxes of stuff first. We’re planning to work on that tonight – last night we got sidetracked by… well, I’ll tell you more about that later. Basically it involves our other child and all the toys he has and takes crappy care of.
Before I go off on that tangent though, let’s get on to our vegetable comparisons and statistics courtesy of babycenter.com:
[BB is] waiting to greet the world! [She] continues to build a layer of fat to help control [her] body temperature after birth, but it’s likely [she] already measures about 20 inches and weighs a bit over 7 pounds, a mini watermelon. The outer layers of [her] skin are sloughing off as new skin forms underneath. (How’s that for a mental image?)
Surprising Facts: How your body changes after giving birth
• You’ll start losing weight right away. While you probably won’t return to your pre-pregnancy weight for some time, most women are about 12 pounds lighter after delivering one 7- to 9-pound baby and losing another pound or two of placenta and another two pounds or so of blood and amniotic fluid. Although it will take a while for your body to regain its pre-pregnancy shape — that pregnant belly may stick around for longer than you’d like — by the end of the first week, you’ll probably have lost about 4 pounds of water weight.
• You’ll have lochia discharge. After your baby is born, the cells that form the lining of your uterus will begin to slough off. This results in a discharge called lochia that lasts for weeks. At first, this discharge is mixed with blood, so it appears bright red and menstrual-like, then it gradually gets lighter in color, finally fading to white or yellow before it stops.
• Your emotions will be in flux. Within the first week or two of giving birth, many new moms experience the “baby blues.” You may find yourself moody and weepy, exhausted, unable to sleep, or feeling trapped or anxious. Your appetite can change, too — you might want to eat more or less. The good news is this emotional upheaval will generally pass within two to three weeks.
…and parents.com:
She’s reached her birth weight (typically between 6 and 9 pounds) and length (18 to 22 inches), and all systems are go! Since only about 5 percent of women give birth on their due date, baby could be making her appearance at any moment. Labor may begin in several ways: mild cramps (the most common scenario), a painless trickle of straw-colored fluid caused by the rupture of the amniotic sac, or a scheduled induction or cesarean section.
…If your delivery is scheduled, you’ll check into the hospital and either be prepped for a c-section or given prostaglandin gel (to soften the cervix) followed by oxytocin through an intravenous drip…
…You’ve been envisioning this moment for so long! But chances are it won’t be anything like you imagined. Maybe your water will break without any contractions, and you’ll need to be induced. Or you’ll dilate so quickly that there’s no time for an epidural, even though you were counting on one. On the other hand, maybe you’ll labor for hours without dilating at all, and end up with an emergency c-section. There’s simply no way to know.
Each birth is as unique as the baby it produces. But the mishaps that seem like disasters now–your husband stuck in traffic on the way from the office, the overnight bag left on the front steps in the rain, your 20 hours (or 20 minutes) of labor–will all become cherished parts of your baby’s birth story. So take a deep breath, go with the flow, and enjoy one of the greatest experiences life has to offer.
Sources:American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists,www.medem.com, Johnson, Robert V., MD, Ed., Mayo Clinic Complete Book of Pregnancy and Baby’s First Year (William Morrow & Co, 1994)
I can’t wait to share Baby Blueberry’s birth story with all of you – and I can hardly believe how soon it is happening – we pick my grandma up from the airport tomorrow! After a quick weekend with a company picnic and likely a bit more baby planning and hopefully some chances to show grandma around town… after all that, Tuesday is coming, ready or not, and so is this baby. Monday morning will mark the beginning of Baby Blueberry Birth Week with lots of fun guest posts and hopefully a special appearance from Dan, who at the very least, I may ask to post some pictures and a quick update if I can’t get online myself next week. I think I’m coming home Friday but you know, with these things, you never know…
That’s all folks! As far as Bump Reports are concerned, “The End…” As far as LIFE is concerned, “To be continued…”
It’s time for another Aloha Friday, the day that you take it easy and look forward to the weekend, in Hawaii and blog land anyway. As you should know by now, over at An Island Life, Kailani decided that on Fridays she would take it easy on posting and ask a simple question for you to answer. Nothing that requires a lengthy response.
If you’d like to participate, just post your own question on your blog and leave your link at An Island Life’s blog. Don’t forget to visit the other participants! It’s a great way to make new bloggy friends!
In eleven days I am going to have a baby (planned second c-section for my non-regular readers) – I know, I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned this fact in every post I’ve written for the last month or so. At this point, that fact has become all consuming for me. And yet it still seems surreal. We’re going to be a family of four soon. I’m soon going to consider the pitiful excuse for a night’s sleep I’m getting now glorious in comparison. I’ll be reacquainting myself with nursing, changing the diapers of a non-solid food eating kiddo, and second guessing myself on the care of two children instead of just one. I’ll be orchestrating nap times on a continuous basis and recovering from major surgery.
So lately I’ve been busy thinking about all the things I might want to do now to get ready. And my husband has been the opposite in a lot of ways – “We can do that the week the baby is born,” is like his favorite sentence. Things like buying diapers and assembling furniture and installing the infant car seat. I’m not sure who is right. I’m not sure I’m remembering every little thing I should be obsessing over. So my Aloha Friday questions for you are…
In less than two weeks we are going to be a family of four – THAT is just surreal to me right now. Per usual I am this quaint little mixture of impatient and scared shitless. On the one hand, wouldn’t it be wonderful to not be pregnant anymore and get a cute cuddly newborn? On the other hand, won’t it be awful to have basically no sleep for the next four months and god help me if this child doesn’t nurse well. Remembering all the little difficulties with MM and trying to remind myself that I got through it, but also remembering that we had a LOT of help. Thank god my grandmother is coming up for two weeks.
Anyway, two weeks from this past Tuesday people – it’s all happening, ready or not. People Magazine’s little pregnancy calendar (which I just stumbled across like yesterday) is officially regarding Baby Blueberry as a baby now and not a fetus – no quaint little statistics about her growth, like I would have seen last week or any week prior. – So far as they are concerned, this kid is ready to go. Instead they quite eagerly want to talk about safety – what baby proofing have I not gotten to yet? For the most part I think our apartment is pretty well locked down as we still have it all kinds of “proofed” where MM is concerned but I know our baby gates will be coming back out soon and a few more cabinets will get locked at some point.
One area of concern for both BB and MM is the bedroom and playroom windows. We keep them open at least a crack to let air in, wider when we want to run the fan. And it doesn’t escape my notice that we live on the third floor. I don’t think MM is tall enough to fall over from the floor, as he can just barely see over it… but he is a monkey and he climbs… And I get nervous. I’ve been looking at this window guard and wondering if I should get one (or two) … or would this or this be sufficient? I can’t help but look at the cost, and then I get that mommy guilt, like “You can’t put a price on your child’s safety” and then I think, “This is why I’m a marketing company’s dream. I’m easily duped…” And then I think, “Or am I?” Any thoughts? At some point I’ll mention this to Dan who I’m pretty sure almost never reads my blog anymore (I must be really boring) but then I feel guilty for saying, “So I was thinking of spending more of your money” since we are also in the talks about maybe cloth diapering (god the up front cost is so expensive and the choices are still kind of overwhelming me) and we’re also looking at these fancy nursing pads that are also kind of expensive but maybe genius? I’m so sick of spending money, I know babies cost money, but at some point I’d like to start saving again and we still haven’t gotten reimbursed for our moving costs which we will then have to hand over to my father who was kind enough to foot the bill temporarily.
Enough about money though, let’s see what babycenter.com has to say about BB – will they also consider this cookie cooked or will we get some statistics? Maybe a fancy fruit or vegetable we’ve never heard of to compare the size to?
Your baby has really plumped up. She weighs about 6.8 pounds and she’s over 19 1/2 inches long (like a leek). She has a firm grasp, which you’ll soon be able to test when you hold her hand for the first time! Her organs have matured and are ready for life outside the womb.
Wondering what color your baby’s eyes will be? You may not be able to tell right away. If she’s born with brown eyes, they’ll likely stay brown. If she’s born with steel gray or dark blue eyes, they may stay gray or blue or turn green, hazel, or brown by the time she’s 9 months old. That’s because a child’s irises (the colored part of the eye) may gain more pigment in the months after she’s born, but they usually won’t get “lighter” or more blue. (Green, hazel, and brown eyes have more pigment than gray or blue eyes.)
Another tidbit from Parents that I figured was worth the copy and paste is in regards to overnight bags:
When the nesting urge hits, it’s a good time to pack your overnight bag for the hospital or birthing center. Avoid the temptation to pack too much, since your partner will probably be hauling it from the labor room to the postdelivery area to your recovery room. Family and friends can bring your nursing bras, favorite bathrobe, baby’s (and your) “going home” outfit, and anything else you may have forgotten. You may even want to pack one bag for labor and a second one with items you won’t need until afterward. (Leave it by the front door so someone can bring it later.) Labor bag essentials include:
- A copy of your birth plan
- Insurance cards
- Heavy socks (feet get cold during labor) and slippers
- Music, if you plan to have any during the birth–one mom we know labored to the sound of Bob Dylan, while another chose Handel’s Water Music
- Hair ties or barrettes if your hair tends to fall into your face
- Books or magazines
- At least $20 for your partner to use for snacks
- Phone card/phone list
- Toothbrush, toothpaste, and breath mints–labor gives you dragon breath!
- A camera or (if you’re really sure you want it) camcorder
I think that’s everything for this week worth mentioning (unless you really want to hear more about the constant back pains and lack of sleep some more… no? Didn’t think so). I’ll check in once more for week 39 and then these little Bump reports will be officially retired as we’ll have a cute cuddly baby to obsess over instead! Have a great day!
Holy swiss cheese, Batman – we’ve hit the full term mark – 37 weeks – As in, if I went into labor today, the doctor would be like, “It’s all good – let’s get that baby outta there!” (I’d still have a c-section, I’m pretty sure – assuming they had time – but if this pregnancy is anything like the last one, we still have four or five weeks hehe) and I have to say I’d be pretty ecstatic on some levels because I’d get a cute little baby and I wouldn’t have to be pregnant anymore – but I’d also be freaking out because I’d have a tiny little newborn baby and my grandma wouldn’t be here yet and Dan would be forced to take unpaid leave (she comes July 17th to be my saving grace in this thing) – not to mention missing the 4th of July. But in all likelihood, this is a non-issue that only I will worry about because there isn’t anything I don’t worry about. The good news is – it wouldn’t be a medical emergency if it did happen.
According to babycenter.com, “[BB] weighs 6 1/3 pounds and measures a bit over 19 inches, head to heel (like a stalk of Swiss chard – yum). Many babies have a full head of hair at birth, with locks from 1/2 inch to 1 1/2 inches long. But don’t be surprised if your baby’s hair isn’t the same color as yours. Dark-haired couples are sometimes thrown for a loop when their children come out as blonds or redheads, and fair-haired couples have been surprised by Elvis look-alikes. And then, of course, some babies sport only peach fuzz.” MM was a total baldie at birth, eventually getting some seriously blonde peach fuzz that eventually turned into blonde hair. And although his hair has darkened, it’s still a pretty “dirty blonde” – although at his age I think my hair might have been the same color. If it gets darker he could be one of those amazing brown hair blue eyed boys. For the time being though we’ve been one of those lucky couples with a kid who (hair and eye color-wise) looks nothing like us. I’ve spent an enormous amount of time lately trying to imagine what she’ll look like and I’m terribly impatient to find out…
My last doctor’s appointment was fairly uneventful for the most part. We saw the doctor at the hospital I’ll be delivering at which is cool because I’d never been there before so now I have and know how to get there and know that they have a free valet service for patients and that the hospital is gorgeous and if they had a hotel in the same building, I’d want to stay there forever. The office at the hospital was much busier than at the clinic I normally see him at – probably because at the hospital there is more chance for doctors having to go deliver babies or something in the middle of their shifts. I didn’t see the nurse until an hour after my appointment was scheduled to start and the doctor fifteen minutes after that, but of course the actual visit with the doctor lasted all of three minutes. The best part about having a planned c-section? Apparently there are basically no down there checks unless there’s a problem. I’m a fan of this. And of course everything seemed fine weight, heart rate and measurement-wise.
I now know, by the way, that we are definitely on our own for getting a car seat / travel system – which is totally fine. To be honest, I always figured it was a long shot, but I need to know. So we’re thinking about getting this one from Target. Yesterday we got a $100 gift card Visa from Rent.com – something I’d completely forgotten was coming – word to the wise for anyone apartment hunting – if you look on Rent.com and mention Rent.com when you sign your lease, then go back to Rent.com and fill out the appropriate hooplah – you get $100. Seriously – this has worked twice for us. So we’re planning to put that towards the travel system which cuts down on that cost tremendously.
Another thing we’re planning to get (this will only cost about $10) is a sleeping bag for MM. See – we got that big boy bed for him like I mentioned – it came Tuesday afternoon – but when my grandma comes to visit we’re planning to give her that bed to sleep on – which leaves MM possibly feeling pretty miffed about losing his new bed. We were planning to have him sleep on his old mattress on the floor and whatever, it’d be fine – but I had this idea that if we throw a sleeping bag into the deal we can tell him he’s camping and then he might thing it’s way cooler? What do you guys think?
Speaking of beds, sleeping has become this mythical thing for me lately. It always sounds good in theory but the quality just isn’t there. There’s no such thing as comfortable and I never seem to fall asleep until I’m supposed to be waking up. I’ve been trying to “take it easy” as I’m obviously quite fatigued during the day, but also keep feeling lazy and getting bursts of “nesting tendencies” which probably leads to me over doing it. And then there’s the ridiculously bored three year old who probably wishes his mother was more interesting. I feel for him, I do. But according to the calendar, life is about to get real interesting, real soon…
In college I killed a cactus. I have long assumed that I am probably lacking in the green thumb department, so I was just as surprised as anyone else when I suddenly had the urge to buy a house plant recently. Initially I was going to buy one of those clever hanging plants to display on my balcony, but my husband (love him) suggested I start with a smaller (read: cheaper) plant with the mind set that it would be wiser to kill an inexpensive plant first than a larger investment plant. It made sense – I took no offense to this idea because it’s true. I love that he knows me well enough to realize that this is both an important step for me, but also one that we should step into lightly, making baby steps. A month from now I may have lost all interest in house plants…
Then again, every time I look at this little plant, which we picked up at our local farmers market for just $3, I like it more and more. I bought it with a small amount of apprehension as I know nothing about plants and didn’t know if this one was “a good one” – or how much of a commitment caring for it would be. I wasn’t even sure it was my style. But I took a chance and I have to say I’m pretty smitten with it. I check in on it a couple times a day to make sure it’s handling this heat wave okay, checking for any dead petals or leaves that could be trimmed away. It’s remarkably easy on some levels, this caring for plants thing seems to involve a bit of common sense. Go figure.
In a lot of ways plants and babies are pretty similar. They require a certain amount of love and attention (though babies admittedly require more of it) to grow, but when you do it right the results are stunning. They are ever so delicate and at the same time, tougher than they look. It’s a balancing act. The care and nurturing of them is both new and daunting but also relatively obvious once you figure it out. Keep them alive and help them to flourish. Show them love and watch them grow. Marriage is similar I suppose. It would seem that I’ve entered yet another new relationship where a certain amount of commitment is required to keep it healthy. If that commitment is genuine and well kept up with, things should go well. I can remember looking at motherhood as it approached, hesitantly wondering if I was cut out for this – not having the slightest idea how to care for something so small. Looking at marriage was similar – would I be any good at this being a wife thing? I hope that my houseplant fares as well as my marriage and son have.
I’ve had a lot of new beginnings in the past few years. Several times now I have made commitments to new people, places and things – new ways of living. It’s been impossible at each point to know for certain that things will work out for the best, but that leap of faith has been rewarded each time. Look how far we’ve come. Wonderful husband, darling son, exciting new chapters in our lives together unfolding as we’ve left the comforts of our upbringings and branched out to this new home, this new place, this new life. Soon we’ll stretch ourselves further and become a family of four. There are apprehensions and fears, of course, but if history has shown anything, I’m thinking it will go well.
I cannot wait to meet the newest member of our family. I cannot wait to witness my heart filling to the brim again – to see her face and know my daughter, to learn the art of parenting a second time as I figure out this whole “mother of two” thing. And I wonder, after this, when I have conquered marriage, motherhood, moving, the mothering of two and the caring of my little flower – what new beginning will we reach for next? What will be the next chapter in our lives that will test us in ways we can’t yet imagine?
I’m now 36 weeks pregnant – I noticed that the little picture timeline on my babygaga.com countdown ticker has now moved over to the final picture on the timeline. Not surprising – because, dudes, it’s almost time. I had an appointment with my OB this past Tuesday and I will now have one appointment a week (already scheduled!) until my scheduled cesarean on July 21st (also already scheduled). Another thing of note from the countdown ticker? Apparently my uterus is now 1000 times it’s original size – that’s rather terrifying.
So at my last appointment my OB gave me the little report from my last ultrasound – there are no pretty pictures or anything worth scanning, but there were two things I noticed while attempting to decipher the doctor jargon in the report. The “history / indications” lists the reason for my ultrasound as being “poor weight gain” which just really had me miffed, even though I know that was a generic statement. Sure if I were a “normal” “healthy” “android” I’d technically be expected to gain some weight in this pregnancy, but last time I tried that I gained like 80 pounds – that to me is “poor weight gain.” They should have an option for “maintained her weight like a rock star” instead of typing things in that make me feel like I’ve done something wrong. I still remember the ultrasound technician about fainting when I told her I hadn’t gained any weight in the pregnancy and I’m like, “Dude you can look at my stomach and TELL that something’s been getting bigger – don’t look at me like I’m an alien – congratulate me!” Whatever.
As if that wasn’t insulting enough, apparently they also consider Baby Blueberry (BB) “not remarkable.” Like they say so several times. Her fetal anatomy is not remarkable. Her fetal spine appears unremarkable. And okay, so those are the only two examples I can find, but honestly, “unremarkable”? My little girl is totally worthy of remark. I bet her fetal anatomy is just stunning, thankyouverymuch. And her spine is probably rocking! I can tell you her kicking strength is nothing resembling unremarkable, but I guess you’ll have to take my word for that.
Yes, I’m telling you all this because apart from that visit this week has been pretty much exactly like the last week, but you know what, it’s all coming soon and I’m trying to just enjoy the normalcy now, even if normal means waddling around like a weeble, sweating like there’s no tomorrow and cowering in pain when my future soccer star starts attacking me for all her worth to the extent that I start wondering if she’s really trying to get my attention and might be screaming something like, “HEY YOU! LET ME OUT OF HERE!” And I’m like, “I wish sweetie.” Although I still have not heard back from Graco so really if I could wait just long enough to somehow aquire an infant car seat to take her home, that’d be swell.
Anyway, I’m sure you’re all like, “Great – but what strange vegetable does babycenter.com think BB resembles now??” so I’ll get on with the statistics…
[BB] is still packing on the pounds — at the rate of about an ounce a day. She now weighs almost 6 pounds (like a crenshaw melon – I’m sure you’ve all eaten tons of those and know exactly how big they are) and is more than 18 1/2 inches long. She’s shedding most of the downy covering of hair that covered her body as well as the vernix caseosa, the waxy substance that covered and protected her skin during her nine-month amniotic bath. [BB] swallows both of these substances, along with other secretions, resulting in a blackish mixture, called meconium, will form the contents of her first bowel movement (I know you all really wanted to know that!).
At the end of this week, [BB] will be considered full-term. (Full-term is 37 to 42 weeks; babies born before 37 weeks are pre-term and those born after 42 are post-term.) Most likely she’s in a head-down position (Actually she’s in the transverse position with her head on the right, but since I’m having a c-section that’s kind of irrelevant). [Otherwise my doctor might] suggest scheduling an “external cephalic version,” which is a fancy way of saying she’ll try to coax [BB] into a head-down position by manipulating her from the outside of [my] belly.
How [my] life’s changing:
Now that [my] baby is taking up so much room, [I] may have trouble eating a normal-size meal. Smaller, more frequent meals are often easier to handle at this point. On the other hand, [I] may have less heartburn and have an easier time breathing when [BB] starts to “drop” down into [my] pelvis. This process — called lightening — often happens a few weeks before labor if this is your first baby. ([Since I've] given birth before, it probably won’t happen before labor starts.) If [BB] drops, [I] may also feel increased pressure in [my] lower abdomen, which may make walking increasingly uncomfortable, and [I'll] probably find that [I] have to pee even more frequently (seriously? Even more?). If [my] baby is very low, [I] may feel lots of vaginal pressure and discomfort as well. Some women say it feels as though they’re carrying a bowling ball between their legs! (Good times.)
Alright before I go, a few other fun things I found on babycenter.com this week:
This honestly sounds exactly like MM so if the same is true for BB… life should be interesting.
I’m now 35 weeks pregnant and it’s time for my weekly Bump Report – although I feel like I’ve been talking about my pregnancy all week – if it weren’t for babycenter.com‘s handy little info to quote, this post might seem kind of redundant. Yup – I’m still huge – yup, it sucks. Yup – I’m seriously wishing it was July 21. Yup – I’m still looking for guest posts for the week of Baby Blueberry’s birth. Yesterday I went through all the baby clothes we’ve got to see what we had in the 0-3 month range – we are totally covered as far as onesies go and we have a good small collection of those baby gowns / baby in a bags, but we’ll definitely need more eventually – especially because MM’s old baby clothes became significantly less gender neutral after that 0-3 month marker. Unless we find out Baby Blueberry has boy bits, we’ll have to figure that out. But you know, I’m pretty sure that’s to be expected. MM needs new clothes, too, but we’re trying to play dumb just a little while longer.
I’m thinking I want to finish clearing the last of the moving clutter from the living room / dining room and turning the corner that is currently “miscellaneous stuff” into a sort of baby center. We can put up our pack and play to serve as a second sleeping area until the crib goes up (we’re using the co-sleeper for the first few months) and have the baby swing and whatever other things we find need a home along that wall. It will at least make the area look less like wasted space and more like well needed baby space. Win, win? I’m sure Dan will be thrilled I’ve come up with more manual labor for him to do.
I think that’s all the new and big from my end without crying woe is me a bit longer about all the cramps and back pains and leg pains and small bladder complaints that are obviously still bugging me. So let’s get on with the developments from babycenter.com, shall we?
BB doesn’t have much room to maneuver now that she’s over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it’s so snug in your womb, she isn’t likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she’ll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.
How MY life’s changing:
My uterus — which was entirely tucked away inside my pelvis when I conceived — now reaches up under my rib cage. If I could peek inside my womb (yuck), I’d see that there’s more baby than amniotic fluid in there now. My ballooning uterus is crowding my other internal organs, too, which is why I have to urinate more often and may be dealing with heartburn and other gastrointestinal distress.
This Week’s Activity:
Prepare food to eat after your baby’s born. If you cook, start doubling recipes and freezing half. You and your partner will be too exhausted to cook in the first weeks after you bring your baby home and you’ll be thrilled to have healthy meals you can heat up fast. If you don’t cook, go around your neighborhood and pick up all the takeout and delivery menus you can find. You’ll be grateful for all the options at your fingertips. (Anyone wanna do this for me?)
They also recommend getting birth announcements ahead of time and addressing the envelopes, finding stamps etc. together now. Totally smart advice but highly unlikely that I’ll do it – Can’t I just send a mass email?
July 21st is in just thirty four days. Part of me wants to snarkily add, “July 21 isn’t for 34 more days! ::sobs into hanky::” but seriously? Thirty four days. That’s soon! And we still have a lot to do – like packing the overnight bag – oh and we need to put together at least the co-sleeper and soon the crib also. We need to assemble the baby swing and find all that other baby gear. I need to go through our various piles of baby stuff and figure out what we actually have and what we actually need. I need to acquire an infant car seat – my lovely bestie Andrea is trying to get me one from Graco to review on Mommas Review, but if that doesn’t work I need to head to the store and make some decisions – like – do I go for a travel system again or just grab a car seat – or grab a car seat now and get the stroller later? Or get one of those little stroller-like devices that the car seat attaches to but will only work during the infancy stage? Graco? Baby Trend? Evenflo? Pretty pink girly pattern or a cautious neutral? Amazon, Babies’R'Us, Target, Walmart, Burlington Coat Factory, sketchy back alley dumpsters?
We also still need to get MM a new bed before my grandmother shows up. Have I told you our plan? My grandma, the angel, is staying with us for two weeks – she’ll be coming the Friday before my c-section and then staying for two weeks – and our plan is to buy MM a new bed with a slightly better mattress, a box spring and a bed frame – so that she can sleep on something resembling a real bed instead of just a twin mattress on the floor or our terrible couch – and MM will move onto it after she leaves. His old mattress we will save for BB to use when she’s older. We were going to buy him the whole kit and kaboodle – you know headboard, footboard, etc. But then Dan was like, “Wait a minute – we don’t even have a headboard or footboard on OUR bed? We could save a ton of money if we just get him the same set up we have. And he was right. So I agreed. We’re thinking if the kids really like rooming together we might get them a bunk bed when they are older and eventually get ourselves a full bedroom set also – but that’s like way out there, daydreaming kind of thing. This is now – with less than thirty four days to figure it out.
Anyway – so I need to get the bed, weed through our baby stuff, come by an infant car seat and oh yes – the blog. I go in for my cesarean Tuesday July 21st and I’ll be staying in the hospital for 2-4 days depending on recovery, etc. I will not be twittering during the operation or anything like that and I honestly don’t know when I’ll get to my blog again, though I promise to post an update as soon as possible, hopefully with pictures – but as far as real content – it’s kind of dependent on when I come home, how I’m feeling and how demanding newborns are these days. But I was thinking I should make a game plan – arrange for some content for your reading pleasure now, and mine later – or … how about before?
See, I’m thinking guest posts – with your best birth stories, newborn stories, tips for either, whatever – hit me with your best stuff – but send it out to me before the big day so I can read the posts and soak up all that great advice, wisdom and I’m sure a good deal of wit and humor, too – beforehand, so I can USE it when it counts and read it when I’m conscious enough to actually take it all in and remember some of it. Lord knows I’ll be mostly incoherent for awhile afterwards. SO:
If you have a great (or terrible) birth story, some tales from the newborn days (first, second, third, fifteenth child – whatever, I’m not picky), some tips or well wishes that you’d like to share, I’d love to feature them as “Guest Posts” on my blog during the week of July 20th. Send me a story anytime between now and Thursday July 16th and I’ll schedule it to run during the week I’m away. If you want to post something meme-y or carnival-like in nature, let me know and I’ll make sure it’s scheduled to run on the appropriate date. You know, whatever’s clever.
Send any guest posts, ideas, questions or offers for free baby stuff to mommablogsalot (at) gmail (dot) com.
If this doesn’t work, I’ll have to make stuff up and that might get pretty dreadful, so please help a future momma of two out!
So I’m now roughly in my 34th week of pregnancy (I say roughly because depending on my actual “due date” I might be a bit under 34 weeks or I might be halfway through my 34th week, but you get the idea. This week I had two doctors appointments – the first one was on Tuesday with my new OB, we’ll call him Dr. Dude because he’s a man and a doctor. My second appointment was this morning to have an ultrasound done, just to be sure things were developing okay from inside what with the whole, “I still haven’t gained any weight thing.
The office that I went to is pretty huge – it’s like the Big Deal Clinic where just about everyone seems to go, whether they are seeing a pediatrician, OBGYN, dermatologist, primary care – basically anything – I won’t embarass myself with my lack of knowledge of all the different kinds of doctors, you get the idea – it’s a big place. I was pretty impressed with the clinic overall, it’s well laid out, good parking, good vibes overall. I can see this being our family’s doctors office in the years to come, which is good because that is the plan. The receptionists in the OB area were super nice and Dr. Dude also seemed like a nice guy. He wasn’t too young or too old or too McDreamy or McSteamy, he was just like a doctor, you know? I felt comfortable around him, which is always nice. We’ll see how comfortable I feel after my next appointment when he’s had to do an internal or whatever they call it. You know.
We scheduled the appointment for my c-section – so far everyone is totally on board for me doing a cesarean for this birth, there are apparently even paperwork-related issues that are now easier because I want to do a repeat c-section rather than trying for a VBAC – whatever, I’m glad it works for everyone, because it’s what I want. The date? Mark July 21 on your calendars, I’ll be too busy to blog that day. 
Maybe I’ll line up some guest bloggers? I think I have a couple ideas for that, I’ll be posting about that in a separate entry later, possibly much later unless I get impatient.
This morning’s ultrasound was your basic ultrasound. The technician was nice enough, although not as superly awesome as my last one – she seemed a bit floored when I told her I hadn’t gained any weight yet, but wouldn’t you know it, everything checked out. According to babycenter.com, BB should weigh around 4 3/4 pounds (like your average cantaloupe) but according to my ultrasound, she weighs a teeny bit over 5 pounds. She’s obviously hoarding every bite I eat and leaving me with nothing – the litty fatty. I don’t have any pictures to share this time, as she is apparently at a stage now where it’s hard to get anything “keepsake worthy” – they mostly did a lot of measuring her head and her arteries and other things I didn’t recognize while MM roamed around the little room trying to find every last thing he shouldn’t touch while mommy was unable to chase after him. Good times.
After we left the lab, I scarfed down a granola bar, hoping to tide me over until we got home, but at about the time that I thought, “Damn lunch time is way too soon, I am not sure I’ll make it until we get home…” I see a little cafeteria right the frig in front of me – clearly this was meant to be. So MM and I shared a turkey sandwich and some apple juice, totally reasonable pricing and a good quality sandwich and luckily I didn’t remember until after I finished eating that I shouldn’t be eating deli meats that haven’t been reheated. Whoops. I’m gonna guess I’ll probably be okay but yeah, not my finest moment. Hunger clearly trumped common sense, but at least I didn’t let myself pass out on the way home from not eating soon enough. And you know, hopefully the hubby doesn’t yell at me for spending money but I actually think he’d be really proud of me for being sensible enough to not push it.
Okay, so you know, still feeling huge and nervous about this whole, “We’re having a baby,” thing per usual, but the doctors appointments went well, the baby is clearly healthy (unless that turkey sandwich did her in) and I should be in the clear for the next two weeks until my next appointment with Dr. Dude. Here are a couple more statistical tid bits to tide you over from babycenter.com:
“…Her fat layers (told you she was a fatty) — which will help regulate her body temperature once she’s born — are filling her out, making her rounder. Her skin is also smoother than ever. Her central nervous system is maturing and her lungs are continuing to mature as well. If you’ve been nervous about preterm labor, you’ll be happy to know that babies born between 34 and 37 weeks who have no other health problems generally do fine. They may need a short stay in the neonatal nursery and may have a few short-term health issues, but in the long run, they usually do as well as full-term babies.”
That’s all for now!
