Ewan has his 2 Month doctor visit with Dr Mark yesterday, although he will not officially be 2 months until tomorrow.

The quick overview:
Length: 21.75 inches
Weight: 9.4 lbs
Vaccinations: Tetanus, Polio

He is in good health and growing right on track for his birth size. He is definitely growing.

( Slightly longer version )

So, it's been almost three weeks since Ewan's birthday.

Yesterday he saw Dr. Mark again for his belated 2-week check up. Ewan is in good health. His naked weight was 7lbs 2oz - the same that Darlene gave to us last week, but she didn't do a naked weight so I'm inclined to think her weight was not accurate as he certainly seems heavier and bigger. His height is 20in., which is .5in longer than his birth measurement. His head measured 14in. in circumference, .5in bigger than his birth measurement. Everything else looked good as well. The poor little guy does have some baby acne coming and going, but that's only expect to last a few more weeks. He has a couple of bumps behind his left ear. Dr Mark suspects they may be lymph node related or possibly cysts, but time will tell. Anything else? He was pretty fussy for Dr Mark yesterday, but we blame hunger for that. So he got to eat before going back into the car.

Following that appointment he went to WISPC/NWRDC so that Grandma (my mom) could show him off to her co-workers who have been anxiously waiting to see him. This included an added bonus of Indian lunch from Taj which was tre yum. He got fussy there as well, so he ate again. He received a great many compliments and was well received.

We then went to the college to show him off to my coworkers for the first time. He slept silently for meeting the bookstore guy (I should really know his name by now, but I don't). I rolled him over to Fred hoping he'd be a charmer, but alas, then the screaming ensued. He screamed through a diaper change in the workroom, and partially through meeting Melissa. He quieted down a little more for chatting to Scot and Fred about my coming back to work. (I'm going back this coming Tuesday for anyone who cares.) But that didn't last long and the screaming continued through the first available tight corner on our way home. That put him out again.

He's eating like a trooper but pretty fussy when he's not. Fortunately it sounds like he was pretty good for Mom last night while we were out. He's sleeping soundly at the moment- hence the post. Little does he know he's about to be awakened again for feeding. Somehow I don't think he'll be too put out.

Feel the rhythm, feel the rhyme, get on up, it's bobsled baby time!

It Begins | 40 Week Midwife Appointment

There is nothing like going in to something like a midwife appointment at this stage in the game and hearing just what you wanted to hear.

After all of my efforts this week- Acupuncture, Thai Curry for lunch yesterday, walking for an hour with Darryl and Alice, "Indian Hot" Vegetable Curry for dinner last night, and thinking wide cervical thoughts- it turns out that we are in fact getting somewhere. Not only have I had some intermittent contractions and a lot of tightness, but I am, in fact, 3 cm dilated! My cervix is about 1 cm thick and the baby is at -1 Station (which is pretty good). I think the baby was quite surprised to get poked in the head for the first time EVER. Imagine its confusion.

So, the only not great news is that my blood pressure has crept up a little bit further, but that turns into good news because give that my cervix is favourable, Darlene doesn't want to wait until next week and possibly jeopardize our home birth. Basically we're looking to have a baby tomorrow or Friday. To accomplish this I have to find some happy balance between walking, controlling my urge to clean the whole world, and getting plenty of rest and then take 2oz of Castor Oil tonight at 2200, and another 2 oz tomorrow morning at 0400.

Mom has been alerted. The Mother-in-law has been alerted. Stephen's boss(es) have been alerted. I'm officially done with work for a while (other than photography stuff which never really stops). The house could use a last once over, but other than that we're pretty much there. The plan is to spend the afternoon with Charlotte and allow myself to be pretty much distracted with things until Stephen gets done with work for today. The plan then is to hit the co-op and get the last minute food items we may need in the next few days... and other than that, the plan is to spend some time together with just the two of us.

It's odd to think it won't be just the two of us again... probably not ever, really. Our lives, our relationship, we are about to change permanently. It's even more odd to know that these changes, this huge life event and everything that entails is just staring us in the face. We are a family- now more than ever. That's a pretty amazing feeling.

This morning I was so uncomfortable and rather grumpy with being uncomfortable... now I'm more excited than I know what to do with. I'm standing on the edge of a cliff overlooking a vast ocean- the winds of change are blowing across my face and my toes are wrapped around the edge of the sheer rock. I have my arms out just waiting to jump... and hopefully fly. Then, from the beautiful sunset on the not so distant horizon, a little butterfly flutters up and lands on my nose.

What a crazy ride.

Watch this space.

I am really not feeling great today. My back is killing me. It's so uncomfortable to sit anywhere- to the point of distracting me from work.
( More about not feeling great... )

( Occipital Posterior )

Ah well... almost there, though. Today, officially, I can say I'm about ready to get this over with. Part of me still wants the rest of the week to get things done in the office and wrap up with clients, but there is a huge part of me that is so ready for the baby.

Every night for the last few nights I've had baby dreams. I had one where I could grab the foot from outside of my belly and I tried to spin the baby around so it would be going the right way. There was another one where we, Stephen, baby girl, and myself were riding in the car. I had the baby in my lap in the front seat and she was looking out the window. She had a rainbow aura and a cute hat. I kept thinking I should really put her back in her seat now, but I didn't want to let her go. I had another one which was basically just looking back at the car seat (from the front seat of the car, which I do all the time) and finally seeing feet in it. I'm looking forward to that.

I'm ready to be captivated by the tiny creature.

Oh yeah, did I mention that we're now within a week of our due date?

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?

If you are blackfaerie, _elric_ or merrypandora you have won this imaginary gold star.

We went to our ultrasound appointment on Wednesday (attempt number 2) and got right in. The tech was sick, but nice. We got to see some feet and little hands. The baby likes to have its hands by its face (which almost assuredly comes from me). It has a brain, about which I'm quite chuffed. It also had its feet nicely tucked in front of the thing we most wanted to see. How very modest! However, at the last minute, it took its leg and put it up by its head, but the umbilical cord was in the way... so no joy.

squidgyfishlove seems to think the tech said we could come back for free to try and get a sex again, but I'm pretty sure he added that magick 'f' word all on his own. She did say we could come back, to tell the midwife she said we could, but I don't think free has anything to do with it. I believe it's just that the midwife needs to call in and basically order a visit for us... and I'm pretty sure it would just as expensive as it would be for any other reason. So we may never know... well... at least not until the baby springs forth in all its goo covered glory.

So... I can't tell you what it is yet. But I did scan some images. Sorry it took so long. I've been vrr vrr sick. Enough so that I took the day off of work, if that tells you anything.

( Feet, Hands, and the long awaited nose! )

It's definitely growing!

( I'm grumpy )

On a more pleasant note, we have again changed health care providers for our maternity care. The more time has passed, the more my apprehension about going to a hospital and dealing with OB's has become. I heard about a birthing center through another post which is actually closer to home. So we went and met with Darlene at Cascade Birth Center yesterday.

I called the OB's office to cancel our 16 week appointment that as set for Thursday. The receptionist asked if I wanted to reschedule and I said no. She asked if I was going to another clinic and I said I was. She then asked why I didn't want to see that doctor anymore to which I replied I didn't want to see an OB at all. Click. She hung up on me. Glad we're not going there anymore.

For the first time I actually have a good feeling about this and a positive image in my mind of whole experience. The pieces are actually coming together and I can image going through labour without being angry with nurses, afraid and anxious about what they might do to me and the baby. The bottom line is that I don't trust surgeons to not think like surgeons. I am really happy about having a midwife and now have a really positive feeling about meeting and holding our baby for the first time. I am really looking forward to that. Only another 24 weeks to go.

Now that I can get over the hating the hospital part it brings up other issues I hadn't really thought about, like who is going to be at the birth. Who will I want to have there? And how many people am I going to offend by asking them not to come? I would imagine quite a few. I can't really think of anyone, other than maybe Anna, who I would want to have in there to actually help me be calm and comfort me through the whole thing. I wish that person would be Stephen but I don't expect that. Maybe we should sign up for some birthing classes and see how that goes.

Only an hour and a half until freedom. I'm so ready to leave work. Gah.

Well, since the University's online interface is giving me the 500 internal server error thing AGAIN!!! that means I'm finally updating this week.

There are three things of note this week:

1. We did, in fact, switch doctors. We are now seeing Dr. Mary Tsuang at Evergreen Women's Health Center. This means we're planning to deliver at Evergreen Hospital's Family Maternity Center. There is a list of classes included on their site, as well as a virtual tour of their birthing suites. I think this will be a good move. All the doctors at this health center are women. It's closer. My doctor is right down the hill. I feel better about this move.


2. I think I'm officially starting to show. It's a little tiny more everyday. Still not totally obvious, but Stephen says I'm starting to look pregnant. We're very near the end of the first trimester and I think this is exciting.


3. I found out what it's like to be taken from work in an Ambulance. I passed out at work following a migraine and a very hard morning of morning sickness. I was in the ladies room at the time, ensuring that my stomach was totally devoid of all possible contents. The next thing I know, I'm face down on the floor and people are trying to get me to stand up. So yeah, long story short: I went to the hospital. I'm fine. The baby is fine. I scared the patooey out of a lot of people, but everyone is fine now. squidgyfishlove has a much more thorough account of it on his lj. It's over and done for me, and it was on Wednesday, so I'm pretty over it at this point. Sorry it's not a better story.

Today, I got to have lunch with my aunt Linda, which is a rare treat. She has been my hero and inspiration since I was very small. She's a busy woman, and I wish I could see her more often. Interesting highlight of the conversation was easily her offering, "If you decide you don't want the baby, I'll take it!" She really likes kids, which is perfect considering she runs the Seattle Children's Theatre, but she will have to settle for being a major cultural influence. She was that for me and I would certainly be a lesser person had I been without that in my childhood.

And it looks like it's time to feed the sick husband. Seriously, the man needs to have his sinuses hoovered for the better good of all. Gah.

OH! One last thing:
For the complete coverage of Project Pollywog click here.