Numbers, emotions, and still pregnant

3 out of 5 couples from our natural childbirth class have had their babies already! We are not one of those three! 2 of those 3 couples were do a week ahead of us and the other one shared our due date. Once all of the little ones have been born and there is some reasonable recovery time, we are planning a potluck get-together. I was excited to hear from and even more tickled at seeing the pictures that they sent over. Then, emotions being what they are at this point, I was a little more than sad that our sweetie hasn't arrived just yet. 1001 "what-ifs" raced through my mind faster than I could even voice all of them.

I tried to keep myself busy: there were phone calls to my family, you tube distractions, shopping and browsing a local farm stand, trip to the gym pool, a movie, reading, board games, a book store run and watching Baby Girl Milette continue to find space to dance around. Still my mind wandered back to : Is it today? what about now? Is that a REAL contraction? Greg was fabulously calm. He helped me to find distractions, answered my questions in a reassuring and confident way, helped me into whatever position I thought would be comfortable and spent a fair amount of time talking to her. I love when he talks to her, it just makes me melt.

Speaking of melting, the weekend was disgustingly hot and humid so that probably did not help my restlessness. Today is warm but with no humidity and breezy. The breeze feels amazing and I have been appreciating it all day. I am, at this point, still pregnant. I am ready, a bit anxious ,and hoping she is ready to join us soon.

you got yourself a date!

The midwife joked around that I could have the baby tomorrow because she is on call at the hospital where we are planning to deliver and that I could just stop by. Sounds like a plan to me. Oh, except for the actual labor and delivery part which is still terrifying.

Anyway not much else to report. Lost a pound since last week. Baby's heart rate is still loud and strong and we can still hear good acceleration during movement. Currently not in labor though she did say that Baby Girl Milette's head is nice and low.

So we sit and wait. And take a nap.

Countdown is in single digits?!?!

Four days until the estimated due date? Deep breath in, slow breath out. Repeat.

The baby's name is....

Ok I am really not telling. My family is slightly obsessed with the game "Guess the baby's name". I told Greg this morning that I am about ready to say yes to everything they suggest. And alternate that with other random words, like "el sacapuntas" and whatever other nonsense comes into my mind at the time. In addition to endless rounds of "guess the name" they are also obsessively playing "guess the birthday" and "guess the weight". I know everyone is excited to meet her and most days I am glad for the enthusiasm but sometimes when we are all together and everyone is shouting out names or birthdays its a little annoying. And not to mention the fact that I don't have control over when she will actually be born!

Today is 39 weeks gestation, which is amazing. Anytime now is good for me, little one. Everything was okay on Friday at the midwife appointment and I even managed to gain a little weight. She went over when to call the office and checked to make sure everything was ready. She also told me I needed to make appointments for week 40 and week 41. The appointment for week 41 falls on our five year anniversary. I really would hope to not be pregnant then, but again it is not in my control.

Sigh of relief

Baby Girl Milette is happy as a clam and doing just fine. She has enough amniotic fluid for the time being. Her heart was beating like crazy and we could see her chest rapidly rising as she practices breathing. She is also apparently head down and face down so we could not see her sweet little face via ultrasound. That's okay though because I am sure that we will see it soon enough. They estimated her weight to be 6lbs 150z which is average size.

So for now, I am glad that everything looked okay. I am anxiously awaiting her arrival and trying to keep the panic to a dull roar.

Stay tuned!

My baby knows how to be born...

... she just has not done it yet! Also, my body knows how to give birth. It already knows. It knows as much as my mother's and grandmother's and great grandmother's bodies knew. (These gems of wisdom are from Julie Brill, Now if I can just get the mind to relax a bit....

In addition to it being amazingly uncomfortable due to heat, humidity and a full term pregnancy; the last few days have been also filled with anxiety. There is of course the normal end of pregnancy "OHMYGODIHAVE TO DELIVERTHEBABY but IHAVENOIDEAHOWTODOIT! daily freak out. Then there is the added anxiety of finding out Friday afternoon that I need to have an ultrasound. The midwife wants to make sure that the baby has enough amniotic fluid.

Even though I am measuring where I should be, I haven't gained any real weight since the mid-late May. Even though the baby's heart rate sounds great on the Doppler monitor in the office, they want to make sure. Make sure that everything is okay. She says the baby is a little small for this point in gestation, but they are guessing at the baby's weight from the outside, so it is not terribly accurate and I am trying not to focus on it.

While she says that she thinks everything will be fine and that is just a precautionary measure, I am not at ease. I paced the floors last night when I should have been sleeping. I did Internet research which basically only serves as fuel to paranoia. I have tried to distract myself with random activities but I think at this point, I need to hear that it is going to be okay and I desperately need to meet Baby Girl Milette.

It seems like my efforts with the iron supplement are making a small difference as my iron levels did go up slightly. So that is some good news.

The ultra sound is later this afternoon. I need to stay busy. I think I will start by taking a shower and a trip to library. And taking several deep breaths....

too hot

It is way to hot to be 9 months pregnant. It just is. Ideas for staying cool:

Bookstore before lunch

Cool salad for lunch

"swimming" at the gym in the afternoon

visiting my moms tomorrow

buying tons of books at the bookstore and camping out in the bedroom with the AC
covering the mattress with ice cubes and rolling on them

visiting some sort of museum this week

eating too many popsicles and too much vegan ice cream

frequent showers

other ideas are welcome...

Not exactly the advice you give to everyone

At the end of the appointment with the midwife yesterday, she said " Go home. Get Fat! Come back fatter next week". I imagine that not too many people have been told that by a medical care provider. I haven't LOST any weight, but I also haven't gained more than a pound in the last 7 or so weeks.

My blood pressure was on the low side but since I was feeling okay, she wasn't too concerned. When the nurse suggested that the midwife recheck it to make sure, the midwife said that it is just me being me.

Baby Girl Milette's heartbeat was strong, in the 140-150 range

Anyway, we also talked about upcoming appointments, went over our birth plan "sketch", turned in my health care proxy forms. All in all, she wants to see me gain more weight before the baby comes ( which is SOON) but otherwise everything looks good.

Earlier this week, I tried to cut out the anti-vomiting medication yet again. And yet again, I was back to puking fluids at 4 am! Not exactly what I would call fun times. With the heat being sometimes oppressive, I need to stay hydrated so, um, puking fluids is not really a good choice. The midwife suggested cutting the tablets to try to wean myself off more slowly or a lower dose. Perhaps before my next appointment, I will have some luck with cutting the pills.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, I feel like Baby Girl Milette is EVERYWHERE, she has officially taken over my whole body.