Out! Out!

Is that my Sprog off in the middle distance?

More than ready! Assembled the cosleeper for good today. Had pineapple for breakfast and spicy pasta sauce for lunch. Tried sex and will be trying again before the night is out. I've standed, danced, bounced on the birth ball. We even tried bribery (every tried to bribe a womb-bound Sprog?) I want this baby out!

I think I'm ready

I had a feeling tonight things would be happening soon. I've been irritable and the baby is low. So I packed the bags while eating constantly (really hungry tonight and blood sugar is weirdly on the low side), tidying the dining table and watching 'Columbo.'

Finally couldn't do any more than just go to bed so texted Spouse, who was out for his regular Sunday Geek night, that we really needed to finish reading The BFG so I could have the baby. The goal was to read the entire book out loud before the birth and we were so close to the end. He raced home (even after I assured him I was not in labour) and the book is now finished.

I also feel less labour-y. Still, I think we're ready. Any time now.

Full Term

I'm 37 weeks today! That's full term, baby, and boy does it feel like it. I've even had cramping today, which I'm sure means nothing other than my body trying to psych me out. I'll probably go for three more weeks. Although at least I know I won't go past October 29th (the due date the OB's office is using) as I've already been informed I'll be induced after 40 weeks.

Work has been so much better already this week. New Guy started on Sunday and has already been doing most of the jobs the students haven't taken. He's even starting on video post-production workflow which means we can knock things out on time for a change! Hell, it actually gives me time to do some of the video too so we can have two work stations going at once. I'm also nearly finished my documentation, not that anyone has looked at it (I know as they told me so in a meeting today.) Hopefully they'll get a chance to review it before I leave in case there are any glaring omissions. And if there are, oh well, I tried.

So, let this be the final countdown

(sorry, I couldn't help myself. I'm a child of the '80s)

36, 37, 40, HIKE!

I am, going by the early due date, at 36 weeks today. This means, as I explained to my boss yesterday, that I am full term next week. Poor Boss Man. both of his children were premature, the latest one coming at 32 weeks. He has no idea how long a pregnancy is supposed to last or really what goes on at the end. I explained that full term is 37 weeks, as in before then they will usually try to stop labor if it comes, but after that the baby can come at any time. The due date is at 40 weeks and between 37 and 40 there is usually still some more growth, but everything is already fully formed and there is generally no need for any intervention or intensive care for a birth during those three weeks. But now that he knows I'm s close he wishes that I had scheduled my leave sooner (the sooner I take it though the sooner I have to come back at the end) and he's paranoid that I'm going to go into some horrible active labor and give birth walking to the office from the T in the morning. On the plus side, he's at least taking my annoyance at having to do so much work to heart now!

So, work. Yeah. I'm ready to go. Boss Man has had a lot of issues at home himself and has had to be out a lot, including all of last week and this week. I'm only just getting my student workers up to speed and the replacement position that was supposed to be filled September 15th is still in the hiring phase. I've been waddling along trying to do AV jobs (and I don't know how women with toddlers or childcare workers cope with being pregnant while running after little ones) and getting more and more irritated which has not been doing me any favours. Sprog is actively upset when I am stressed and I found that if I am too active then I start having Braxton Hicks contractions. Fun! This led to some arguing with Boss Man a couple weeks ago as well. But this week I got a bit of a reprieve with a temp coming in and HR helping with interviews for the interim position. Yay!

34 weeks, 2 days. Just proving
I sometimes get dressed

On the homefront, I've been trying my best to nest, but it's really just not coming. The closest was the need last week to season all the cast iron pans in the house. I have, however, managed to get some cooking done for the freezer. I made two huge pots of chili this weekend so we have four big meals of chili available. The week before I did a big batch of garlic "meat"balls that are in bags in there too. We have a good amount of sausages, plus lots of rice and dried beans. I think stocking up on tinned tomatoes and Heinz beans will be a help, plus I plan on making a vindaloo base to have in there - just add meat, veg, paneer there's a very large block of paneer already there.) If we can manage to get some things that will keep like root vegetables and some frozen veg (although we still have 2 large bags of green beans in the freezer) then I think we'll be able to throw things together fairly easily once Sprog arrives and we're too tired to cook. ow, if only I could get it together to make those crib sheets.

In medical news, we went for another ultrasound today. It's at the point of weekly OB appointments and alternating weeks of non-stress tests or ultrasounds. Sprog is measuring small again, about 5lb 5oz, but the margin of error is 14oz so it's not the most accurate. The OB appointment is tomorrow and I get the group B strep swab then.

Yesterday we had an initial consult at the pediatrics office. I was fairly impressed and liked how they were straight-forward, even when I asked about the justification for a hep B vaccine at birth when mother is negative and has been vaccinated (she said it's because newborns are a good target but there's no medical reason.) I assured her we weren't anti-vaccine or medicine, we just anted to really only have things that were necessary. On that front we also asked about antibiotics and how often they're prescribed (we do not want them unless actually warranted, as in don't give them for a virus!) and treatment of and possible avoidance of allergies since I have one drug allergy and Spouse has some food allergies. All went well and I'm glad we were both able to be there, even if we were both lacking sleep.

So, that's all the news for now. Rather a large update but it has been a while since I posted. With things coming up so fast I do hope to get a couple more posts in before the birth, but who knows. Let's try for some short ones, shall we?

Bedding!

Quickie tonight. No, we're not going to keep the baby in the kitchen but it was convenient to set things up. The new cotton mattress and wool pad for the co-sleeper arrived today. It adds enough height so that there's not a big lip to lift the baby over and sprog will be level with our bed. Now we just need some sheets and we'll be all set! Well, on the bed front at least.

Restless Leg

I'm up yet again with restless leg. This time I thought I'd do something slightly productive and blog while I rock on the exercise ball. This will probably be a quick post as I'm not quite so sharp when I wake in the middle of the night.

It's hard to believe that I have only six weeks left until Sprog goes from residing inside to outside. I'm not ready. We have everything we really need but I'm just not prepared to have an actual baby yet. I don't suppose one is ever prepared for a first child though. We haven't even decided on a name!

In terms of baby, all seems to be going well. I'm measuring right on schedule and there's plenty of movement. We've started weekly non-stress tests when I go in, lie down and get hooked up to monitors that track foetal heartbeat and movement. After a headache/blood pressure scare last week they decided to start me on this early. The headache turned out to be due to a stiff neck and the blood pressure is fine (our home monitor may be off) but I was told to ALWAYS call if I have a headache that doesn't respond to the piddling medication I can give it. We'll have another ultrasound in a couple weeks and after that it's pretty much just wait for baby to arrive at any time.

That's it for now. Next time I may talk about work, but it has been so busy/frustrating lately that I really don't even want to think about it right now.

Whoops!

I forgot to post my Saturday picture! Actually, I forgot to take the Saturday picture, so here is Sunday, before the pin curls came out.

Yesterday we had the second of our natural childbirth classes at Isis Parenting in Boston. I have to say, the class was better than expected. I felt like we learned a lot of strategies for getting through labour and that we both really have a plan now. JaLynn, the doula teaching the class was knowledgeable, funny and really personable. I highly recommend classes there if she's the standard of in instructor they get. If she did her doula work in this area, I'd hire her for that too in a heartbeat!

We also got a chance both weeks to browse around the Isis shop as well. We both loved the exercise balls in the class so much that we bought two for home. They're great as a computer chair or leg rest! One nice thing I've found as well is that sitting on one and hulaing my hips helps when I have RLS at night too. One thing we looked at but didn't buy was a baby carrier. Instead I decided to try and make a sling myself. I've actually blogged that separately over at my main blog urban earth mother.

This week I am determined to do something about my hand numbness. JaLynn said it was carpel tunnel so I'm going to call Harvard Square Shiatsu and see if they can get me in this week to work on it. In the mean time I have splints for both wrists that I'm trying to wear as much as possible.

I feel a bit like Robo-Girl with them on, but they are helping make typing less uncomfortable. Now if only they came in fashion colors...

And on a final note, speaking of fashion Fleur De Guerre's post on Maximum Glamour really hit home for me. I've been using the excuse of being uncomfortable pregnant in the summer to look rather frumpy lately. While I do wear lippy every day (and yes, I fully intent to give birth in red lipstick), my hair has been either in braids or a bun for far too long. Sunday some solid Victory Rolls made their return appearance to my head (with an encore at work today) and I really noticed a difference in how I felt. So while I am clearly a hippy at heart in terms of many of the parenting decisions we're making (co-sleeper, cloth nappies, breast milk for at least a year (hopefully longer), baby wearing) that little extra bit of glamour makes all the difference in how I feel about me. Shallow? Perhaps a bit, but you try being a bloated whale in July and you'll look for a little boost where you can.

Saw where the Action will occur!

Yesterday's Week 21, Day 4 picture

First off, here's the picture from yesterday that I neglected to post. Not long after I took this, we set off on a tour of the maternity ward of Brigham and Women's hospital where I'll be delivering. I was the only one there not due this summer so there was certainly less urgency for us than for the other couples on the tour.

The tour began in the lobby near obstetrical admitting. We were informed of the admitting process and who can be there (mother, partner and one other person) as well as parking provisions. Not that either of us drive, but I'm sure we're in the minority in that.

From there we went on to labor and delivery to see one of the delivery rooms. They have 24 rooms, all private. Each room includes a hospital bed for the mother, a recliner for the partner, a rocking chair, various medical things like heated bed for newborn if needed, monitors, oxygen, etc. They can also bring in an exercise ball if you want to sit and labor on that. There's a shower and you can walk the halls or even have a light meal. Yes, all this can be yours, unless you have an epidural. With an epidural there is constant fetal monitoring, no getting up and no food, only clear liquid (and I doubt they mean gin.) Yet one more check on the natural childbirth side for me!

After labor we saw a postpartum room for lying in. Generally one stays for 48 hours after vaginal birth and 96 after cesarean. There were a couple of babies in the nursery as well, so we got to peek at some fresh ones. You have the option to have your baby in your room with you the whole time though, which s good. There is also a recliner for partners to sleep on. Visiting hours are in the afternoon but they caution that visitors are going to keep you up and you really need to rest. Usually you can work out a signal with the nurse to come in and kick people out if you're uncomfortable doing it yourself.

Apart from that it was just nice to hear things like the encouragement of breast feeding, especially immediately following birth. They encourage skin-to-skin as well unless some medical intervention is actually needed. There are also free breastfeeding and bathing classes each day. Oh, and wireless ;) Because some of us are tied to our online lives too.