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…

1. They have an online store – so you can buy their stuff from the comforts of your own home.
2. If you wanted to send me gift cards for fun baby stuff, these would be very much welcomed. Also – FOOD – apparently we need it to survive?
   

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…”