There's little question now that we will have an April baby. Somehow I never thought it would happen that way. I never thought I'd make it to my due date, let alone past it and into April - neither Shannon nor my mom ever got to their due dates so I assumed I wouldn't either, since "they" say you tend to be like your mom and sisters. Shows how reliable that crap is, eh? When we joked about having an April Fools baby or a 04/04/04 baby, it was just that, a joke. But no longer, now it's a real possibility. Kind of funny. I was talking to Shannon earlier and she commented that it's funny that between us we didn't manage to have a March baby, and us both with March due dates!
Notice is hereby served to Resident Marshall of 1 Uterus Court.
You have 24 hours to leave the premises (preferably between the hours of 10:00am and 5:30pm as previously discussed).
If you do not leave said residence within the alloted time frame, we shall be forced to use drastic measures to get you out, including (but not limited to) high doses of castor oil, and some other stuff that is simply too disturbing to be mentioned here.
If you are not out by 11am on April 1st, you shall forfeit all your first birthday gifts.
(Livvy thanks you in advance.)
P.S. - Why would you name your first born child "void" Allie? Such a cold name...
I've just learned that Lisa had her baby over the weekend! Go on over and welcome the wee thing, she's gorgeous!
I have without a doubt reached that point where I am officially tired of being pregnant. Get this kid outta me! Sigh.
My last day of work was quiet and short. I did some last-minute cleanup of my office and of the files on my computer, and wrote a long note to whoever will eventually replace me, giving them information about where things are in the office and all the files on my computer that they will find particularly useful and necessary. After that I played Freecell for a couple hours until it was time to start my round of goodbyes. I left around 1:00 to get to my doctor's appointment at 1:45.
The appointment was fine. Jason didn't come because this appointment was in the practice's other office, which is too far from his work for a quick out-and-back trip. All the usual stuff was fine, apart from weight gain - BP was 122/68, urine fine, fundal height 40cm, and the baby's heartrate was 146. I gained 3 pounds supposedly, but I'm not putting much into that since I was at a different office on a different scale. It wouldn't have anything to do with all the ice cream and cinnamon rolls I ate last week. Nope, not a thing to do with that.
I told Dr V all about the cramping and backache I've been having, and about the small amount of spotting I had the other night. She got excited and kind of bounced on her little stool and exclaimed that she was sure my cervix would be more dilated. Unfortunately, when she checked I was still the same, right at 1 cm. I wasn't anymore effaced, because as she said "you can't get much thinner than you are now." While she was in there she stripped my membranes - she ran her finger around the inside bottom of the uterus and separated the bag of waters from the uterus. That was unpleasant and a little painful and certainly not something I want done everyday, but it wasn't as bad as I expected. The idea of the membrane stripping is to encourage labor - an invasive but non-drug method of induction - by causing irritation to the cervix and uterus that results in the release of prostoglandins, which are responsible for the cramping and contractions. I struggled with whether to have her do this all week, but in the end decided that I'd rather start with the non-drug methods now so I have a chance to try many of them, a couple times if necessary, before she wants to hook me up to Pitocin. So far, I have had nothing in the way of contractions from the stripping, but it can take a couple of days to take effect.
Baby was practicing kickboxing last night at bedtime. For two hours. Two solid hours of kicking - really it felt more like swooping and dragging of body parts across my insides than true kicks. In any case it was enough to keep me from falling asleep. So much for getting to bed on time. Blah.
Tomorrow is my last day of work. It hardly seems real. I've been clearing my personal things out of my office all week, every day taking a couple things home so I don't have to carry a big box out with me. I didn't have much there - you don't accumulate much in just 11 months - but it would have been awkward to take away all at once.
I should go take a nap. I am tired. But I don't feel like laying down and sleeping. It's been an odd day. I am exhausted but restless. Earlier I could barely keep my eyes open, and was vaguely nauseous. Now I have the chance to sleep but can't make myself go lay down.
39 weeks today, and no news. I had a little spotting last night and have been having lots of crampiness and backache all day, but nothing regular or timeable. All evening the baby has been so wiggly, it feels like he's trying to find an alternate way out. Occasionally he knocks down on the expected route, which hurts like the dickens, but oddly enough he doesn't fit there yet. Hence the attempts at finding another outlet.
There's a new belly picture up. I'm quite huge. I'm also wearing the exact same outfit as I was at 35 weeks. My wardrobe is pathetically small and lacking in variety. If I get any larger, I'm going to make it easy and wrap myself in a bedsheet. If I get any larger I'm going to go present myself at Sea World as the newest exhibit.
Ten days until the due date. Although the date is random and means next to nothing, it's still exciting to be starting that final countdown. And now we know for certain that the baby will be a Spring baby and an Aries, unless it is born in the next hour and forty-five minutes, in which case it could still be a Pisces.
Nothing much on the labor front. Still lots of crampiness and the like. Today I have been getting more twinges about the belly and down lower. Not sure what that means, if anything. I have started looking at each new day in terms of whether it's going to be the baby's birthday. At the end of the day, I find myself mentally checking off one more date that isn't going to be a birthday in our family - this year at least.
I went to my friend Beth's baby shower today, which was really nice. They live out of state so we don't get to see them very often. I also got to see my friend Rose, who also lives out of town, though closer than Beth. It's wonderful when they all come back for visits! I'm exhausted now, though. I didn't do more than sit around for a few hours but it wore me out!
Today's appointment brought some exciting news - progress! More on that in a minute. Everything was fine as usual - blood pressure 122/72, minimal weight gain (a pound or maybe even less), good baby growth (forgot to ask the fundal height), urine ok, and the baby's heartrate was in the mid- to upper 120s. I told her about losing what I thought was the mucus plug (there's a link to more info, though that page omits that it will not necessarily have blood in it), and about the general crampiness I've been having in my lower abdomen and low back. She checked my cervix and we heard the words we've been hoping to hear... "You're dilated!" She followed that quickly with "And effaced... my goodness are you effaced!" I'm 1 cm dilated and - get this - 85-90% effaced**! So, hooray! This baby's coming sooner rather than later, it would appear. Dr V said she didn't expect to see me for next week's appointment. Let's hope she's right. Although, Dear Baby, it would be nice if you'd hold off a bit, since we have plans with Emma and Andy to play games tomorrow night and Beth's baby shower is on Saturday. (That of course is a guarantee you'll come smack in the middle of all this, isn't it?) Boy is this a rambly, single-paragraph behemoth of an entry isn't it. I didn't get much sleep last night. My hips hurt too much and I couldn't sleep. Naptime.
** quick explanation of preggo terminology for those who might not know: effacement is the thinning of the cervix - the goal being 100% effacement, so I'm nearly there. Effacement is half of the work that happens during labor, dilation is the other half. Well, not counting pushing of course. That's a whole other bunch of work!
...and I'm sure I'll be able to comply with every last mandate from the International Woman of Mystery herself. No prob, eh. But for the record, I'd like to remind her that I can't be held responsible for any silliness that happens as a result of my giving birth (such as, say, a baby popping out at 3:30 a.m.). Nothing a woman in labor does or says is her fault!
So as of today we're 38 weeks pregnant, a number that seems impossibly large, although nowhere near as large as my ever-growing belly. If I go another three weeks, I shudder to think of how big I am going to be.
Any signs of labor? It's hard to say. I've been having more braxton hicks contractions, as well as some crampy backache and lower abdominal cramps, both of which are very reminiscent of the beginnings of menstrual cramps, and which supposedly can be a precursor to labor. Lastly, I believe I may have lost my mucus plug yesterday. [Readers who don't care for vivid pregnancy-related descriptions are advised to skip ahead. Don't say I didn't warn you.] I can't be sure, because it wasn't your usual "bloody show" type of thing. Walking into work I started having near excruciating pains in the area of my cervix. I didn't think much of it - just assumed baby was bouncing its wee head on said delicate area - until a little later when I went to the bathroom and found what I can only guess was the mucus plug. Later in the day the cervical pain repeated and I had a tiny bit more of the same appear. Assuming it was actually my mucus plug, it of course doesn't mean labor is imminent, but it could. I've read up and it could mean labor starting in the next couple days or as long as two weeks. I've not got my hopes up. I'm going with the assumption I'm in this for the long haul and will still be here, pregnant as can be, three weeks from today.
This is what happens when people leave their blog-doors unlocked - let this serve as a warning to all of you.
Allie (rather naively, I feel) has given me the ability to post here so that you can all be informed when lil' sproglet arrives. Presumably Allie will be too exhausted after squishing a baby out to do it herself. Personally? I think she's just lazy (but of course, I'd never tell her that).
Of course, she's going to go and do something silly like have her baby at 3:30am, waking me from a sound slumber to pop in here and post information that I more than likely will forget between the bedroom and the study. In order to prevent that, I herby declare that this child must be produced between the hours of 10:00am and 5:30pm. Anything other than that and I'm afraid I cannot guarantee the accuracy of the reporting.
Of course, if Allie goes into labour after April 1st, I won't even be in the country. In that event, she will have to make an international call so that I can update from overseas. Those are the chances you take when you hire an international woman of mystery such as myself I'm afraid.
So. In order to keep everyone (well, me) happy, Allie will comply to the following: (More stipulations may be introduced at whim. My whim, naturally.)
1. The Marshall Child shall be born no earlier than 10:00 (ten) am.
2. The aforementioned child shall be born no later than 5:30 (five thirty) pm.
3. To avoid international phone charges and the inconvenience of dealing with a +5 hour time difference, The Marshall Child shall be born on or before March 29th, 2004.
4. No child is to emerge before March 28th, as Andy is already concerned about having to share his birthday month (again). Sharing his actual birthday may send him into a permenant state of pouting.
Make it so.
Our 37 week appointment was today. Jason had to miss it because of the ridiculous lack of parking at the hospital. I had problems myself - had to drive up and down the parking garage one and a half times before I found a spot - so I wasn't surprised when I got to the doctor's office and checked the voice mail on my cell phone and found one from Jason saying he had left because of no parking.
The appointment went well. As usual everything is normal - blood pressure was 102/70, urine was fine, fundal height was 38cm. I'm not sure about weight gain, but egads, I think I gained about 3 pounds. Dr V didn't say anything, in fact she said the weight looked good, but I am pretty sure that's what the gain was. In a week. Blah. In my defense, however, I am more swollen than usual the past few days. Baby's heartrate ranged wildly between 147 and 157, causing Dr V to call him a "feisty" thing. Last of all, there is still no progress cervix-wise. She reminded me not to be discouraged by the lack of progress, because it really doesn't mean have anything to do with how close I am to labor. I know that of course, and I'm not disappointed, but it would still have been exciting to find out I'm a leeeetle bit dilated and effaced! Dr V did comment that I have a "nice, strong" cervix and should never have to worry about preterm babies - a nice reassurance, that!
Next appointment in a week. Thank goodness this is my last week of full time hours at work. I'm so exhausted throughout the day, I'm really looking forward to being able to come home early and crash.
I just went back and read some of the early, early entries when the pregnancy was brand new. It's funny how much I have forgotten about what it was like then, the anxiousness and nervousness about whether the pregnancy would stick, the icky first trimester symptoms, the giddy delight in being pregnant. Now it's gotten to be such a commonplace thing, being pregnant. I find it hard to imagine a time when I wasn't pregnant. Pictures of myself in a pre-pregnant state look odd. Flat belly? Who, me? And giddiness? I can't think of a single thing that makes me giddy these days. Too exhausted from hauling around this belly.
I did run across an entry where I found a prediction about what our baby would be like. It amused me.
"Madame Zaritska at pregnancyandbaby.com has predicted the following about the birth of our baby:
The day you deliver, outside will be windy. Your baby will arrive in the evening.
After a labor lasting approximately 5 hours, your child, a girl, will be born. Your baby will weigh about 6 pounds, 4 ounces, and will be 20 inches long. This child will have blue eyes and a lot of hair."
I am so digging the five hours of labor bit. Awww yeah. The six pound bit is awful nice, too. And a girl! Let's hope so!
Final note, I put up a belly picture last night. It's only two weeks since the last one, but I swear I've gotten bigger!
As of today we're 37 weeks and officially full term, which means the baby could come at any time. He (she) probably won't, but he's allowed to. And I certainly wouldn't complain much if he did decide it was time! I've been having little crampy feelings down low in my tummy the last few days, and odd little pains that are new. I put the pains down to my ever-growing belly stressing my muscles and ligaments and what have you, but the crampiness... who knows, maybe that is the very early beginnings of very early contractions.
I've been going cleaning crazy lately. On the weekends I find I can't be content to just sit still. I just have to be up and moving around. This past weekend, for instance, what started out innocently as wiping down the stove ended up in a full scale stove excavation (cleaning even the burner pans and under the stovetop) and kitchen cleaning. I even washed the trash can, ladies and gentlemen. I also did the upstairs bathroom, vacuumed, and cleaned the fan in our bedroom, which was disgustingly full of lint and dust. I am not calling all this nesting, because it's more out of boredom and not wanting to sit still than a great burst of energy. But maybe if I get all this cleaning out of the way now, when and if the real nesting starts I'll be better able to ignore it and rest instead of expending my precious baby-squishing-out energy. Maybe. We'll see.
We had no questions at all, which is highly unusual for us, so it was a quick and easy appointment today. Everything looked good - blood pressure was 110/68, I gained about a pound (though on the scale at home I gained nothing), urine was ok. The GBS test from last week came back negative, so no antibiotics are needed during labor. The baby's heartrate was around 145. She checked my cervix and it's still closed, but she said it felt like it was thinning out. How much thinner she couldn't say since it's still closed, but at least that's progress of some kind. She also said that as far as she's concerned, we're okay if labor starts anytime from now on, even though we're not 37 weeks yet. We're so close, she said, that there would be no point in trying to stop it now.
At last, the baby's corner of our world is finished! Pictures are here.
I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but I have a plan for working the remainder of the month. I sent it to my boss on Monday and he seemed to be okay with it. I'm going to work full time hours this week and next, and then go down to part time hours, probably leaving around 2:00 each afternoon, except of course Thursdays when I have my weekly doctor visits at 1:30. Assuming the baby doesn't arrive sooner, my last day at work will be the 26th. I would really prefer to quit a week or so sooner, but this way is a compromise between needing to work as much as possible and needing to rest those last few weeks so I'm not thoroughly exhausted when I go into labor.
In the last few days I've noticed that it feels like the baby's head is hitting my pelvic bones or that the baby is somehow in my way down there, especially when I walk, climb stairs, or bend over. This is new, and makes me wonder if s/he's dropping a little. It could just be the baby getting larger, but I'm not sure that putting on fat, which is about all s/he's doing right now, is enough to make such a difference in how I feel him. I suppose we'll find out at our appointment tomorrow.
Devon William L.! We visited him this evening after our childbirth class and got a few pictures. Such a precious little bundle he is!
First of all, a huge congratulations to my sister, who gave birth to a healthy baby boy last night! He arrived at 7.10, weighed in at 8 pounds 3 oz, and is 20 3/4". He doesn't have a name yet, and because of how late he came we were unable to go visit, so we won't have pictures until tonight. I can't wait to meet the little guy!
As I suspected, the birth of Shannon's baby has made me even more anxious about still having up to five or so weeks left of this. However, despite feeling as if I have forever to go before we can expect the baby, this made me feel a little better this morning. We have 10.0% of the pregnancy to go. Ten percent! Twenty-eight days! Put that way, it suddenly doesn't feel like the insurmountable challenge it felt like ten minutes ago.
We had our breastfeeding class last Thursday and really liked it. Although I've been reading a couple of breastfeeding books, actually seeing someone demonstrate the different holds and the way to get the baby to latch on and practicing them myself really made a difference. I can visualize more clearly what I need to do, instead of having a fuzzy concept in my mind based on drawings and words in books.
This weekend Jason put the car seat in the car. It fits fine, which we never doubted, but had to check just in case. The only problem seems to be that because of the type of fabric covering the seats, the base slides back and forth very easily, but a mat of some sort should take care of that problem. Saturday I was finally able to begin painting the shelves for the baby's corner. The weather was gorgeous - I was actually outside in shorts and a t-shirt and thoroughly comfortable! - so we put the shelves out on the patio and I painted away. In between all our other busyness this weekend, I was able to put two coats of paint on them. Now only have to touch them up in places and I'm done!