My Pregnancy Journal

37wks

Woo Hoo! As of this past Thursday, I am now officially full-term. Although I can be a little stiff when getting up in the morning, or after I've been sitting for a while, I feel incredibly blessed knowing that I do not have a lot of back pain! I credit a lot of it to the fact that most of the weight that I've gained has been baby, boobs and my thighs. (Man, my thighs are huge!!!). Also, Pilates teaches you how to carry your weight and strengthens your back, so my limited progression back into Pilates (and the stuff I did before pregnancy) has really helped! Even now, when I do feel a bit stiff, I can do some Pilates stretches, find my "neutral" position, and get instant relief! The human body is an amazing thing! Truly, I am fearfully and wonderfully made! Psalms 139:14

Our childbirth class this past Wednesday night was a bit comical. My instructor got a call on her cell phone. One of her clients (she's a doula also) went into labor, so she taught as much of the class as she could until the couple came to the birthing center. We then saw a video and left the class early. Although I was a bit bummed, we were all happy to have the little break, since the class goes from 7pm to 9pm. It was neat though, because we discussed post-partum issues, such as depression, symptoms of post-pregnancy that some women don't know about and caring for the mom after the big event! A lot of these issues are not typically dealt with in childbirth classes, and I've been impressed with my instructor's level of detail. Hey, with an 8 week course, the content should be meaty!!

Speaking of the big day, I am excited to tell you where baby and I hope to meet face to face for the first time. You can check out my birthing center at www.specialbeginnings.com. I'm priviledged to know that this birthing center is the most comprehensive center for midwifery, natural care and women's care available in the state of Maryland. You have got to check out their website. I feel like I'm visiting someone at home when I go to my appointments. The staff info is out of date, but take the virtual tour. I'll be in room #2!!! I'm so excited!

Well, it's early so I'm going back to bed. My body must be practicing for baby, because I always wake up at about 330am every day. (It's Saturday, so I woke up at 530 this morning). I try to go back to sleep, but if I'm just tossing and turning, I'll just get up and do something. Sometimes, my most productive time is those early mornings. Thank goodness I don't have a "job" to go to, because I'm a mess in the mornings after my little "nightly sessions". I'm trying to just stay up for no more than half an hour now. On my next post, I'll have to tell you about my fondue party!

36wks

Wow, only one more week (4 days, actually) before I'm considered full-term!!!

So many neat things have been happening lately, that I hope I can share the highlights:

eBay: I'm an eBay fiend. Unfortunately, I haven't sold anything (no new listings) in a week and a half and my spending money is gone! I did buy some cloth diapers and have subsidized that purchase with eBay payments that were sent via check or money order. But now, I'm $43 bucks in the hole since I just won another set of cloth diapers. Gotta start selling more stuff!! I also needed a few more nursing bras as well and am slowly acquiring some nursing tops.

The nursery is practically ready!!!! The furniture finally came in and we had it delivered last week. This weekend, you should have seen me and DH try to put the darn crib together. It's a sleigh bed deal and the curved post of one side was really hard to put together. There's a small gap, but it's barely noticeable. After 2 hours, we had only gotten the 2 sides assembled and the back side. Sheesh! It was a nice surprise to find that on Sunday, 2/22, after coming home from church, DH surprised me with the finished product!! What a sweetie!!! Now, the room is officially Little O's bedroom. What a transformation!!! I still have some computer stuff and work files that I need to get rid off, along with a few plastic bins, but basically, the room is ready. I just need to hang up the valance, maybe get a few pix, wash the clothing and sheets to welcome baby boy! Woo Hoo! I promise to post pictures on my website when the room is ready.

We got our last sonogram at 34wks on 2/9/04. Baby is healthy and we got it on tape! Ironically, the picture quality at 34wks is worse than at 30wks because it's pretty crowded in there. It's hard to get a clear shot of the face, etc, without an arm or umbilical cord blocking things, so the video looks a little murky. Still, it is neat to have moving pictures of Little O! Dr. said that this would be the last sonogram, since everything is looking good. I'll have to come back to show him Little O in the flesh, since he's been such a nice doctor!

I've updated my pix on the web. My hair and belly are both growing at warp speed!!! Luckily, I finally got a hair cut last Thursday. Oh, and did I mention? I got my first professional manicure and pedicure on Friday, 2/20!!! Woo Hoo!!! This was courtesy of DH's Christmas present to me, a gift certificate to a local nail salon. What a treat! I don't think I'd get a manicure again (I'm just a low-maintenance kind of gal) because when I got in the car and put my seatbelt on, I smudged 2 nails!!! Ackk!!! I just got a French manicure on my actual nails.... no dragon lady stuff.

The pedicure was a different story! The nail salon has a pedicure spa - a little tub for your feet!!! So, between foot soaking, massage, and a pedicure, I was in heaven!!! My toe nails are now a beautiful bright red, a good focal point during labor, yeah, that's it! I would definitely get a pedicure again. In fact, I had $15 of my gift certificate left, so I may schedule another pedicure in the next month!

34wks

Well, the babies are starting to pop out now! An online friend, (actually the owner of the GON site that I moderate for) had her baby girl 2 weeks early (1/29/04). And my cousin and his wife just had their baby on Sunday, 2/8, the same day as my oldest nephew's birthday. Woo Hoo! I'm next in line since I only have 6 more weeks to go! Trust me, even though I'm excited to meet my little boy, I'm in no rush to have this baby just yet. I'm enjoying all this ME Time! It's funny too, because every one else is having girls, so the boy is going to have a nice harem to choose from. Ha, ha, ha.... Just kidding. I may let him start dating when he's 30.

I'm still keeping busy, but I've noticed lately that I do need a nap in the afternoons now. I don't know if it is because I have events scheduled on Monday and Wednesday nights, or if baby is just requiring more energy out of me. Maybe it's a little of both. Anyway, when my head start to droop, I feel no guilt about taking a nap. After all, once baby comes around, my naps may be fewer and farther in between!

I must document that I did what many pregnant women do - I fell!!! That's right folks, I performed a beautific swan dive in the sleet and snow as I was getting the car seat inspected. Praise God I fell on my side. Except for my jeans getting soaked and feeling a little jittery, I was OK. I don't think anyone saw me, but I was holding an umbrella and flip! - I just lost it. It was sleeting and ice was forming quickly on the sidewalk. It wasn't funny then, but I am laughing out loud now just thinking about it.

In order to cope with that traumatic event, I stopped by the Barnes & Noble and had me a nice hot chocolate, an apple cake and a Rice Krispies treat. While my pants dried, I played word games on my PDA and just relaxed for a while. Ahhhhh.... they even served me the hot chocolate in a ceramic cup. No plastic utensils here! After this, I spent the rest of the day running errands. I didn't even call the midwives about my fall until the next day!

The weird thing is that back in the car after my seat inspection, I just took some time to rub my belly and soothe Little O. After all, he must have been shaken up too! I said, "Mommy is sorry she fell". I was overcome with emotion as I referred to myself as Mommy. I just sat there as tears of joy escaped my eyes. What a tremendous blessing a child is!

The mushies happened again as DH attended a Navy-Lehigh basketball game on Saturday (his birthday!). I can't explain it. At half-time, there was a jump rope group that provided entertainment. The kids were all grammar school age and it was neat to see them double dutch, swap ropes and perform complicated jumping routines. Although I didn't totally lose it, I had a lump in my throat. I just sat there thinking about our little boy and how we'd be taking him to sporting events and club activities. These kids could have been hanging out at the mall but they were here doing something fun, healthy and productive. It was just cool to see. I know, I'm a basketcase.

Is this how it's going to be? Will I cry every time I see a Sylvan Learning Center commercial? Alas, it could be worse.
I could be devoid of emotion, or like those folks that "hold it in". No thanks, I'll take the rollercoaster instead. It's much more exciting, even with the low points.

On a more comical note, I must tell you about our shopping experience for strollers and play pens. After researching strollers online, I had a pretty good idea of a few strollers that I wanted. But when we tried them out in the store, DH didn't like any of them! They all closed easily enough, but they'd end up falling on the floor. A lot of them were either too bulky (Eddie Bauer, yikes!) or too flimsy. So, the search goes on.

Playpens were another story. I decided that I needed a bassinet/co-sleeper thing, but I wanted something multi-functional. I settled on the beautifully priced Graco Jackpot Pack 'n Play. It cost about half of the other ones and functioned as a full size bassinet, travel crib and play pen. Now that's what I'm talking about! The online reviews were very positive as well. So, DH and I did a trial run at the store. Could we knock this thing down and build it back up again easily? Knocking down was no problem and the playpen was compacted without a hitch!

Rebuilding was another story. We tried for at least a half an hour and could not get the sides to snap back in place. Even with my 2 college degrees and DH's computer programming savvy, we could not figure this thing out! Frustrated and disappointed, we decided to give up and let the store professionals clean up our mess. I thought this thing was going to be such a good buy! We could have tried other playpens, but we were just too fried. As I got the mattress to put back in, I noticed that there were detailed instructions on the underside of the mattress. This was a veritable gold mine, since we were not able to find them before!! A quick read and we discovered that the sides would never snap in if the bottom was fully retracted. D'Uh!!! A few modifications in our methods, and we had that baby back into a crib in no sweat! Whew!!! Confident with our new-found skills and because we did like the playcrib, we bought it. Woo Hoo!

34wk

Boy, it's a good thing I didn't commit to writing in this thing every day!!! Sheesh!
It's been a while since I've posted, but I've been busy with Childbirth Classes, prenatal and doctor appointments, volunteering at the library and running errands. (I'm getting tired just thinking about it!) I'm also taking a Basic Lay Speaking Class on Monday nights. It's a class that is geared towards helping United Methodists use public speaking skills to minister to their congregation by teaching, sharing the Word, and just helping out.

Not to worry though, I still leave some free time, such as Mondays and Fridays during the day. I try to run all my errands on Tuesdays and Thursdays and leave Mondays and Fridays alone. My energy level is good, and even though I don't take naps every day, sometimes, it's wonderful to take a quick snooze in the middle of the day.

I've been battling my nutrition, but have recently boosted my salad intake. I started making this Tomato/Kiwi salad that is awesome. Anything to make the greens interesting. I'm also boosting my protein and carbs since baby is in the "fat producing" stage now.

Praise God, my pregnancy is going very smoothly. My family calls me to see how I'm doing and it's tough not having a good "horror story" for them! LOL... At 34wks, I'm still moving around fairly well and don't have any back pain. If I sit too long, I may get a kink in my back but after a little bit of walking and stretching, I've been able to shake it off.

Ooooh, baby just said hello! My belly now does the wave as Little O moves around. Yes, that's his new nickname. My oldest sister came up with it and I like it. So, Little O it is. (Don't worry though, he's not going to be a Jr. or anything, per hubby's request).

January was a little tough because I went to 3 funerals.... When I was younger there was sort of an unwritten superstition that pregnant women should not attend funerals. I thought about that, but decided that superstitions are based more on fear than fact and went to them anyway. It was kind of weird, because the families that I paid my respects to were happy about my baby in the midst of their tragedy. I didn't want to be really upbeat about baby. In a most profound way, though, God really showed my the circle of life - the inception and miracle of pregnancy, and the certainty of death. I know death is a morbid topic, but it is not the end of the story if you believe in Jesus and put your trust in Him. There was no fear at any of these funerals, because the deceased knew Jesus and knew where they were headed.

Next post, I'll tell you about our adventures in the baby store.