Sorry... posted late. From Thursday, 30 August, 2007.

Project Pollywog: 34 Weeks, 3 days

Yesterday was our 34 week Midwife appointment. The topic of the day was home birth. As the reader knows, we have been reconsidering this possibility and leaning strongly towards it since discovering that our new insurance will not cover birth by midwife. Yesterday we discussed more in depth the logistics of it, some more details and addressed Stephen’s concerns of safety. Included below are the answers to our questions and hopefully many of yours as well.
Our big hang up has simply related to which hospital we’d rather be closer to. Both hospital options for the birthing center and being at home are not optimal, but it’s hard to know if one is worse than the other. If there is a life in question who can we trust? I think that in the end we’re taking a leap of faith that should we need it, Cascade Valley Hospital will not kill us. Home birth it is.
( Home Birth FAQ )
( General FAQ )
( Other Things We've Discovered )

Before I go to bed, I have to come back and say that I've calmed down quite a bit.

Should anyone decide to come to the baby shower, now that the Evites really have been sent out, please understand that we really are appreciative of support and really excited about the baby. The later point is really the important one. Somehow the squishy looking, round baby on the invitation really reminds me of that.

It's active time right now. Baby seems to really move and shake around midnight- every night. It is most active now. My tummy is changing shape and moving. I can see kicks and twitches. It's all very tangible and very cool. Once I find and charge my digicam we may attempt to take some video of the movement. However, somehow the baby seems to know it's being watched and usually stops when anyone else is looking. So, fingers crossed.

We can actually feel the baby's head and sometimes hands and feet. You can follow its shape up my belly and around to the baby's round little bottom (which is currently on top). Sometimes you can find feet, though I never attempt to grab them or anything ridiculous. I do wonder if we might be bothering baby by squishing in near its face, so I tend to try to rub its back and feet. I'm looking forward to doing that when baby comes out. I'm also looking forward to baby no longer having access to certain very sensitive nerves that run from my pelvis to my legs, but that's another story.

So, my final thoughts before bed:
Even though I think I'm funny shaped and look terrible, it's all for a good cause.

Almost all of the baby belly protrusion is pretty high on my abdomen, so fingers are further crossed that it's an Ellie. I must remember this everytime I look in the mirror and think I'm hideous.

The only trousers I really liked and thought were even remotely flattering are too small to fit around my belly as of this week. :( I guess I'm relegated to the baggy yet comfortable and looking even more horrible than before.

Heartburn means baby will likely have a full head of black hair and be a little Eskimo (the not PC term for the Inuit peoples) Baby like I was.

I had a dream last night that the baby was out side and I was holding her (because it's a girl, says my brain and my gut but we can't say for sure). She was a little smaller than I expect to see at birth but very healthy and responsive. I knew she would need to go back inside and that I only had a little while to play with her. She had a yellow diaper that had a ton of writing on it (warning and usage labels and what not). When she wet it, a message appeared saying that Couvage or Le Couve had occurred. "Attention: Le couve..." blah blah blah can't remember the rest. Couvage is occurring now... and there is only one definition of couver that deals with germs that might really indicate soiling, but who knows. Apparently my brain thinks it knows French. Anyway... she was a very sweet little girl and I hope I get to have more dreams.

I need to get back on a better sleep schedule and this isn't helping.

Stephen is getting very impatient with me. So I guess it's time to go.

No matter how crazy and hormonal I get, how much complaining I do (namely about feeling out of control), I really am happy to be pregnant and am really excited for baby. I'm just not very good at expressing that sometimes- especially in person when asked/prompted.

So, this puts things into perspective a little bit:


Not long to go!

This shall be a short update.

Baby shower invitations should be going out shortly, hopefully in next couple of days. Was supposed to be seeing redcanoe this weekend but have a sudden house guest in the form of echo_echo, so that may not be happening. Haven't heard back from her.

Have been adding more things to the registries. What a time drain that is! I'll probably spend time deleting a lot of it again later. That's what I do.

Quick Update on the financial situation: Egad. Did more digging with regards to insurance. Called Premera (our previous provider) as a long shot to see if they would cover since we started with them. They won't. They won't be cause Regence will cover someone to deliver the baby. So, they suggested we switch providers. So... we're just going to have to fit the bill for this one because I'm not ok with a Nurse Midwife and a hospital.

I'm actually looking forward to a home birth at this point. I think it's pretty exciting.

Other than that... baby class again today. Still haven't talked about that much. Perhaps soon.

Well... 8 weeks to go until the due date. This likely means another 9 1/2 until the birth.

Stephen got hired on full time at the place he's been contracting which means we now a new insurance plan. He was happy and anxious to stop paying out of pocket for the Cobra Plan (continuation of our original insurance through his last employer) and I've been apprehensive about dropping the Cobra ever since he suggested just not paying for it back in July. Turns out all of that apprehension was completely founded. Call it woman's intuition. This new insurance plan does not cover the midwife. It will not pay for the birth - unless something goes wrong and we end up at a hospital. I, for one, am not ok with that.

So, I'm at work at the college right now. It's my second to last day before we have a five week break and there is really no certainty of any hours after that as the college is trying to cut funding (go figure). I'm really freaking out right now. I'm really trying not to lose it at work. Edit: Just talked to my boss and we will get some hours, but as per usual there are a certain amount and he leaves it up to us to divide them between us... so it's really dependent on how generous everyone else will be as to how many hours I get.

I've called the midwife just to double check with them and they do not work with this new provider at all. They said they are happy to bill our previous insurance for everything up until the 1 August when our insurance changed. Our next appointment there is Wednesday when they are going to talk to us about how much this is going to cost out of pocket for the remainder of our care including the birth.

We've already lost our vision coverage and are having to pay for my new contacts out of pocket this month. We haven't bought the carseat yet (they're supposed to be available this week at some places and later in the month at others- so that's what we've been waiting for). We haven't bought a breast pump. We've been putting all of this off until this month or next (I've been pushing for sooner rather than later, but in the end it's really not my decision).

I'm really not ok about the idea of having to change away from our Midwife. I would sooner have the baby at home by myself than go anywhere near an OB. All I need is someone to catch the baby and the afterbirth, cut the cord, and we're good to go, I think.

Maybe another job isn't such a bad idea after all... legalities aside do you think anyone would hire a woman at 8 months pregnant?

I'm feeling cramping and not so great today. If I weren't at work, I believe that I would spending much of the day on the floor. I've been getting somewhat light headed, and was quite dizzy last night. I'm blaming Denny's food, but I'm hoping it's not a sign of anything worse than that. Also, it's raining today and there have been a lot of sharp shifts in preasure this week which has been definitely effecting my ears and drainage- so while we're at it, let's blame that too.

As long as this isn't Pre-eclampsia or something, I'm alright.

Either way, with all the back up in my neck, I think that a visit to the chiropractor or a massage would be a wonderful thing. Also, I'm really wanting to do yoga right now. That's what my body says it needs, but again, alas, I am at work- and I shutter to imagine the eyebrows I would get.

Catching up a little- I've had a rough week. I'm not sleeping very well. I've been ultra moody and really not had much of an appetite despite making myself eat. I'm getting pretty sick and tired of being tired. Worst of all though, I've not been as nice to Stephen as I could be, and I think I offended Mom yesterday. Sometimes I've been really short for no reason, other times I've just been angry with Stephen (and for some reason not wanting to let that go), other times I just cry. I cry over stupid things. I've definitely wanted to be left alone. And of course, my motivation to work has been somewhat down, which is never good.

So, welcome to 8 months pregnant. My apologies to everyone around me. Sometimes I really don't seem to be able to help it and I don't know what my problem is.

So... Stephen is pretty great. He may not let me sit on him because apparently my belly is not a pillow, it's a bowling ball (his words not mine), but he did put the crib together while I was at work today.

Yay! It's rickety and I'm not entirely convinced it's safe, but it's in one piece!

I have provided yet another camera phone pic for your viewing pleasure. I guess this means we just need a couple of accessories (a crib bumper, bed skirt, and a twilight turtle) and we're well on our way to uber cuteness. Huzzah.




Edit/Note: We are planning to make another go at sturdying the crib and probably lowering the mattress- we, of course, would not use it unless we thought it was really safe. And, we are aware that there is a level of user error and McGuivery going on here as we had to take our best guess at what we needed, and that may not have been entirely correct.

Time sure does fly, doesn't it? Somehow the prospect of hitting 30 weeks feels like we're about to slide into home plate.

We've started birthing classes. We've had one, then skipped a week because other people started after we did, and tomorrow we'll all come together for class number 2. So far, so good there.

I'm frustrated with being tired, hot, and trying to get enough nutrients (I have totally lost my appetite). I seriously despise summer.

On the upside, Grandma Chuck came over and helped me paint pretty much painted office/baby room. She graciously put up with me being on the floor a good part of both days as my back keeps going out. Not much to be done about that, it seems. So anyway... It's Blue!


( +2 )

So our colour scheme is coming together. The wall colour is called "Blueberry Buck" and will be complemented by green, lighter blue, and yellows/golds- though there are a few red/brown/orange accessories as well which also look good against the wall. It's bright. I like it. It makes it feel more like baby is coming. And we got low order paint so hopefully baby didn't get to feel any effects of the fumes. They didn't bother me so I guess that's alright.
( Crib Day )
Well, I guess it's back to the last bit of Saturday. I'm not looking forward to the rest of that, but we won't speak of that.

I gave in. I'm dying my hair. The fumes are killing me. This may not have been the best plan... but I do so hate my brown hair! It's such a shame that paying someone else to do it is so expensive.

Well... what's new? We've signed up for Birthing Classes. Due to a great many factors, we've decided to go with the Bradley Natural Childbirth Classes, taught in S. Everett by a woman named Lynnette. They are more expensive than hospital classes but we feel that the value is worth it. These classes are actually designed to help and prepare us for a better, safer, healthier birth with as little pain as possible (namely by teaching us to handle it). This is a twelve-week series which will end one week before our due date... that means we're getting close!

We start classes this Tuesday and I'm actually somewhat excited. The idea of labour is still somewhat surreal and I think that by physically attending these classes and beginning to really prepare, it may help the whole concept sink in more so and feel more tangible. I'm also hoping this will be a bit of a bonding experience for squidgyfishlove and myself ( or a huge disaster, fingers crossed). So yes, first class this Tuesday and then we'll be attending on Sunday afternoons for the duration of the classes. Pros of this are not rushing to get there after work, and we're taking it with just one other couple which should mean that it's less stressful and intimidating (since neither of particularly like the group of strangers scenario). The con is namely that it eats up our weekends somewhat, as it is 3-5 Sunday afternoon... but I think if we still want to plan a trip to Portland to see kevbonium that we should be able to make up our class.

During a stop off at Baby Style (I LOVE this store- and have registered there), we picked up a couple of books for Stephen: Crouching Father, Hidden Toddler: The Zen of Fatherhood (or something like that) and The New Dad's Survival Guide: Man-to-Man Advice For First - Time Fathers (This one comes complete with Army dad in some swanky slippers and a helmet.) I'm glad he's found a couple of books to read on the subject that he seems to enjoy. And, to my benefit- one of the books tells him that when cute and such gets too much he should get out and use some power tools (or do other such manly things). He decided to give this a shot last night on one of my new cheapo assembly required cabinets, which I purchased to replace an even more cheapo set of shelves in the office, and hide clutter). I think I like this. I wonder what other DIY projects we could set for him? And! Those should be made easier by the month late Father's Day present that he's getting today. You know, smothered in Macho Cheese and complete with bare handed Bear Wrestling and such.

Other than that... my upper back is starting to hurt a lot. Apparently my chest and general frontular area is getting heavier and it's very uncomfortable. I'm not pleased by this in the least. Also, I've rubbed the skin off of my toes and re-sprained my wrist. It's really hot and my I'm very tired of feeling that (and the stickiness). Good thing I'm shooting a wedding tomorrow, solo. What a wonderful plan that was! Oh well... let's hope it turns out well. I would hate to anger a bride.

More on photography later... for now I must go and wash this horribly wretched smelling chemistry from my hair.

Someone please remind me to post pictures of the Photographer-Mom's Dream Diaper Bag and proof of super-double-extra nerd points earned by moi.