Project Pollywog: 36 Weeks, 4 Days

[eniarelocin]

Lisa-DayOut-8
Originally uploaded by NicoleRaine

Lisa, our baby shower hostess, is in town. This afternoon she took me out to tea at a place I didn't even know existed. Apparently there is a very quaint little country village (see cutesy shops and touristy things) in Bothell. We had a lovely time... there are more photo highlights from our tea party on my flikr site.

Tomorrow is our baby shower. It's looking from the guest list like it may turn out to really be a baby shower and less like the BBQ get together we were originally envisioning. I think this should probably work out pretty well- there will only be a couple of male types and I'm sure the most uncomfortable of all of them will be Stephen. He has permission to bail should it turn into an Estrogen Fest. I'm hoping it will be a nice afternoon with friends.

I'm planning to bring my camera and hoping to try something different. I would like to get pictures of the gift givers holding the gifts instead of me with everything... might be nice as a memory- that way we're sure to know where everything came from years down the road.

Midwifery Update

Yesterday we had our 36 week midwife appointment. We went over my lab results and she's not worried about us at all. I even gained some weight (which is supposed to be positive but I will probably never get over the giant EEEK feeling I get when I step on the scale and wonder how high it will be this week).

The baby is growing steadily and healthily. The heart beat was good and strong as usual. My blood pressure was a little high- I'm blaming the heat (I was very warm in there)- so I have to go in Monday and get checked before we go in again on Wednesday for our 37 week appointment. I have orders to take it easy and not stress over the weekend.

We are officially going with home birth. We went over some more details and have since ordered our home birth kit (which includes all sorts of foreboding items). We are pretty set at this point. As of this coming Monday, we are considered full term and all systems are go for a healthy, normal home birth. This basically means we could have a baby any time. How surreal and amazing that is! I seriously wish we could just hirer a small army of cleaning gnomes to come and deep clean everything so I feel like we're ready. Oh well, I keep at it.

Most importantly- yesterday, we proudly handed Darlene an envelope full our money (I'm happy to say I contributed a healthy chunk to that- though I'm sure Stephen will still be quick to mention his was bigger). We are now prepaid for birth and if all goes well (i.e. no hospital transfer) then we owe no further money on the birth of our baby. This is a HUGE weight from our shoulders. We still have a lot of other money issues to stress over at this point, but that was definitely the big one.

Fortunately, business continues to come in for me- possibly including our midwife for some family portraits, but that's not confirmed yet. Hopefully in the next month and a half our accounts will balance out and life can go on... of course changing in extraordinary ways from here on out.

Baby/Pregnancy Updates

The baby is definitely putting on weight, getting bigger and taking up more space. Somewhere in the last week to week and a half it's started to get into my ribs- which makes bending rather uncomfortable, more so than before. Getting out of bed 3 or 4 times a night to use the restroom and even trying to roll over and adjust to get comfortable is far more difficult than it should be. Stephen has also mentioned that I look much bigger than I did a couple of weeks ago. I don't feel bigger when I'm up and moving, but I do when I'm trying to hoist myself out of bed.

The baby continues to be head down and facing to my left. Darlene would like the baby facing right, so I'm to lean/bend forward as often as possible in hopes the baby will turn over. This relates to the birth presentation and makes the baby more likely to present facing my back and keeping it from pushing on my spine in labour. So far baby is staying put, but we'll see how it goes in the next few weeks. Back labour does not sound like fun to me, so I hope to give it the best chance possible to maneuver into the optimal position.

The baby is on the move downward and preparing for launch. I believe I mentioned that it seems to be lower in my abdomen than it has been previously. Lisa has commented even today that she thinks I'm carrying very high (points towards it being an Ellie), but it's not as high now as it was a week or two ago. As part of this downward adjustment I have been experiencing some extremely uncomfortable pelvic pain. Ligaments in my hips pop and snap. This is no fun for me.

Also, I'm now experiencing periodic sensations of menstrual like cramping (like the kind we women get before the hard core cramps arrive). These usually occur once or twice a day for 5-10 minutes and then seem to disappear. This may indicate that my cervix is starting to soften and that I may even be dilating (according to my research). This is also listed on the list of labour signs given to us by the midwife and fall into the "Pre-labor" category. This does not bear any indication of when labour is likely to begin- it is simply one of the signs that my body is preparing to eject the child.

Also in this category are the Braxton-Hicks contractions that I experience daily as well- though they usually come in the evening. Rarely do these contractions occur at the same time as the other ones. Braxton-Hicks contractions occur high in my abdomen at the top of my uterus and can actually be felt with the hand (my abdomen feels hard/solid to the touch). The others occur deeper and lower in my abdomen and feel almost identical to pre-menstrual contractions. Although, I will have that I do have both of those at the moment and the instance of them happening simultaneously, and more often individually, is increasing.

I wonder if it will be a month of this or if we'll get a surprise and baby will come early... who knows. But, fortunately we're getting ready for baby's arrival. We have a partially packed bag for the unlikely event that we do get transfered to a hospital.

I'm definitely getting anxious for baby. Mom and Lisa are both dying to know the sex. Stephen wants every available second of freedom. But I don't feel like we're to the point where I'm a ticking time bomb. I think we'll have a little longer. Wiggles is definitely more cramped- sometimes it even feels like it's attempting to dig its way out- but it also moves around and I hope is content. In fact, Wiggles is quite wiggly at the moment (it's nearing midnight and this is still the most active time of the day).

Perhaps it wants more Thai food... I know I do. Mmmmm green curry...

...and on that note... it's time for midnight snack and then bed.Edit: Stephen gets the curry... I get a glass of Almond milk and a purple carrot.

We hope to see everyone tomorrow at 4pm!

Comments

[poggs.livejournal.com]

Mmm, curry.

[ebonyraine.livejournal.com]

Yes, but Thai curry. Which is soooo yum. Too bad it's gone now. Will have to get that again soon- it's so lovely!