Limbo

Well, I'm still pregnant. Since my last post, I have had two, 4-hour sessions of labor that started out with contractions at 4 minute intervals or less with some back to back contractions. Then every hour the contractions would slow down by 2 minutes til they stopped! On Tuesday morning I went into labor and delivery because my contractions were so close together and strong but as they monitored me, they slowed down and eventually stopped altogether. That night, the contractions picked back up again at the same rate but I figured I would wait at home for 4 hours to see if they lasted longer than that morning and sure enough they tapered off too.

Fortunately, these contractions have not been in vain. I'm now dilated to 3 cm and baby has dropped down to a zero pelvic station which means she is just about ready to emerge. I'm a third of the way there! The doctors say that it's a good thing that I'm getting most of this early labor out of the way at home because it means I should have a much quicker delivery.

I'm trying to be patient, but it's hard to be when I've already been in some degree of labor twice! I'm hoping that next time my contractions pick up it will be for the long haul. In the meantime, I'm home from work now and I have been SOOOOO tired. I feel like I should be getting all kinds of stuff done around the house since I'm not working but my energy is GONE. Hopefully that fabled "burst of energy" will come and swoop me up soon, because I think I ran down my battery over the past few weeks.

Ready or not, here I come!

I have been having a surprising amount of fairly powerful contractions lately and I was excited to find out whether or not they were doing any "damage" down there. I had my 37 week checkup at the doctor this morning and discovered that I am 2 cm dilated and 50% effaced! Hooray! The doctor was very excited, as was I, and said I could have this baby tonight, this weekend, any day now, and most likely won't last through the next week. I was just glad to hear that the chance she will be camping out in there past her due date is very slim.

I had been trying to prepare Art mentally for an early arrival by explaining to him on numerous occasions that she could show up any time between now and my due date but he didn't believe me. He thought there was no way she would show up early and that I was just overreacting. You should have seen his reaction when I told him the news from my appointment today. Are you SERIOUS? Are they SURE? Did they check? But we don't have a middle name picked out yet! Do I need to stay home from work now? But she isn't supposed to be born for 3 more weeks! Oh, he cracks me up. I told him, "Sorry Baby, but she is coming whether you like it or not!"

Looks like I better finish getting my hospital bags ready! Wish me luck this week!

Before and After

From ugly pine...

To cool black shine...

The baby's corner is finally done! Well, minus a couple missing bolts... See the awesome ladybug knobs??? And the red and black blanket I made for her??? I am SO excited to have this done. Thanks Mom, Lauren, Art, Brent, Vivian, and Kyle for any and all your help with painting, moving, or building the crib and dresser. I thought it would be an easy task, but now I know I couldn't have done it alone!

Showered With Love

My baby shower was on Saturday. It was a beautiful day and nice and cool in the shade. All of the decorations turned out awesome. I'm not too crazy about shower games so I picked out a simple purse scavenger hunt to find items busy moms would accumulate. Art's mom had the most busy mom points. Then we played gift bingo by having everyone fill out their own bingo card with what they thought I would get then they crossed them off as I opened presents. I got lots of baby girl clothes and a few key items such as my stroller and car seat.

Here are some pictures...




Thanks Mom, Lauren, Tracy, Kylie, Brent, Vivian, and Robyn for your help in preparing for, setting up, entertaining, and taking down everything for the shower. Thank you Ann for letting us use her gorgeous yard. And thank you to everyone who came to celebrate with me and for your wonderful gifts. With all the gifts in my house now the reality has really set in that I'm having a baby soon!

34 weeks

A Puffy Day

Today was the first day that my feet got so swollen that I couldn't fit them in my shoes. I attempted to wear normal shoes to work then I had to call Baby Cakes to bring me some flip flops because my feet wouldn't even slide into my shoes far enough to wear them. I'm thinking that all the running around and standing I did this weekend must have caused additional swelling. I'm certainly hoping that the swelling goes down because it feels like I'm walking in someone else's feet. They feel big and cumbersome instead of normal and useful.

Mom and I drove back to Modesto today to re-try the 3D ultrasound. We had dim hopes of getting any pictures, but much to our surprise, she removed her face from my placenta just enough to get a glimpse of her. She is positioned so low that we couldn't get a head on angle of her, so all of the pictures are angled from her chin up. It made her face look kind of pudgy. I guess she was having a puffy day too. The pictures are not very clear at all and mostly distorted, but I'll take distorted pictures over no pictures at all any day of the week.

Here is my obstinate baby at 34 weeks.




I know I still need to post about my baby shower, but it is way past my bed time. You will just have to hold on to your underwear.

Part II

This could definitely be considered High Hopes and Low Expectations- Part II. I have discovered that where I had previously held out high hopes, I was disappointed, and where I had lowered my expectations, I was pleasantly surprised. Allow me to elaborate...

I drove all the way to Modesto last night with my mom and husband to have a 3D ultrasound done in an attempt to see Baby's face. She was bouncing off the walls all the way there and, just as I expected, fell fast asleep the moment we arrived. Then, try as we may, we could not get any pictures whatsoever of anything that resembled a baby. As it turns out, I am carrying her so low and her face was so burrowed in my placenta that we couldn't see her at all save a few fingers. I really thought that we would be able to get at least one good face shot and I was crushed when we left empty handed. They offer a chance to come back a second time for free but it would take a significant change in position to see her and the chance of that happening this far along is very slim. I haven't decided if it's worth driving out there again for a re-do. I am hoping that Baby's prenatal obstinacy is not indicative of how she will behave outside the womb or else I am in big trouble.

On the brighter side, I seriously thought that I would be lucky to get even a card from my husband for our anniversary and he really surprised me. I had been giving him a hard time all day about the fact that I had his present bought and wrapped a week ago and he hadn't gotten me anything. We went out to dinner and when we were done eating he said, "Can I have the car keys- I need to go to the bathroom." That statement raised a lot of questions in my mind as you could easily imagine, but I reluctantly handed over the car keys. He came back in holding a bag from a jewelry store and a card. I was all teary eyed as I read the card and he even wrote something in the bottom like I taught him to do. Then I opened up the jewelry box to find a gorgeous, huge, squared white opal necklace pendant with a pink zircon stone on top- both of October's birthstones. It has a beautiful gold setting that is unlike any I have ever seen. He did an awesome job picking it out all on his own. Perhaps it's true that I didn't marry him for his strong romantic streak, but it may be that I was impressed with his ability to save his rump at the last minute.

Lastly, I would like to propose a moment of silence for those lost in the tragedy of September 11, 2001. It's hard to believe 7 years have passed already.

High Hopes and Low Expectations

I had an ultrasound today to see how Baby is measuring and from what I could tell, she is just about right. Her head is about a week ahead, which is to be expected from my side of the family, and her leg is about a week behind, which is to be expected from Art's side of the family. We had high hopes for some good images from this ultrasound since Baby is much bigger than the last one at 19 weeks and we both ended up very disappointed. We got stuck with the same ultrasound technician as last time, who happens to be a kin to the Wicked Witch of the West, and she just breezed through the whole thing, showed us practically nothing of interest, and only printed out one picture with hardly any detail whatsoever.

I completely understand that 20 years ago women were lucky to have any ultrasounds at all, but knowing the technology we have these days and how accessible it is I just can't help but be disappointed with the image I got today. Art really wanted to see her face and get a better idea of what she looks like and I want to do everything I can to foster his interest in the baby since his interest has been especially lacking throughout this pregnancy. So, I gave in and made an appointment at a 3D ultrasound place for this Wednesday evening. I'll call it an anniversary present to myself. The prices in Fresno were double what they are in Modesto, so we will be driving to Modesto. I will be extremely disappointed- dare I say pissed- if I don't get any good images after driving 4 hours and paying 95 dollars so pray that it doesn't come to that.

It's still kind of early in the third trimester to be complaining, but this pregnancy is starting to kick my butt. I feel like I'm turning into a fire breathing dragon in more ways than one. First, there are the mood swings, and then there is the constant stomach acid. It seems like no matter what I eat and no matter what I take, my stomach is on fire around the clock. Which brings me to my next complaint which is waking up every hour or two all night, either to pee or because my stomach is on fire. Dairy products seem to help a little bit and I have set a personal record for milk consumption. I drank a whole gallon of milk by myself far before it expired. Normally we won't use up a half gallon between the two of us before it goes bad. My last complaint for now is that Baby has decided to take up residence in the right half of my rib cage. She has wedged her butt up in there and it seems to suit her just fine, but makes for some serious discomfort for me. I'm sure her encroachment into my upper abdomen has made significant contributions to my stomach issues. Oh, the joys of pregnancy. Just 7 weeks to go...

Though this weekend was disgustingly hot, it ended up being more or less productive. My mom, Lauren, and I worked on some things for the shower. We bought red gerbera daisies for the centerpieces and wrapped the bottoms in red mylar sheets and tied them with black and white polka dot ribbon. They are SO cute. I am definitely pleased with how well they turned out. Now we just have to keep Mom's cats from eating the flowers and make sure Lauren doesn't kill them before the end of the week like she did to the beautiful hydrangeas I bought for Mom when she was in the hospital.

Tomorrow is my 2 year anniversary and I am quite confident that my husband has not bought me a present or even a card. Try as I may, I can't understand why he developed the belief that anniversaries are not noteworthy or important. I don't think anyone should break the bank for an anniversary, but I certainly think that acknowledgment of some official kind is necessary. He had offered to make all the plans for our anniversary then a week ago I asked him what we're doing and he had forgotten he even said he was making the plans. Let's just say I'm keeping my expectations really low so that I might be pleasantly surprised. It definitely wasn't his romantic streak that won me over... must have been his dashing good looks.