"No baby yet, (we would have told you if there was) but we're hoping for Sunday. Oh, I'm doing fine. . . Well, yeah, there is the achiness, indigestion, exhaustion, gas, incredible swelling, hunger, thirst, insomnia, and by the way, I have to go to the bathroom again. But other than feeling like death, I'm fine."
Today was my weekly (and hopefully final) checkup with my doctor. Everything looks good. I thought Mom was going to cry when she heard the baby's heartbeat. I'm now 90% effaced and dilated to 2.5, almost 3 centimeters. She booked me for an appointment next week, but even she thought that there's a good chance I won't need it. I'm still hoping for Sunday, but could be anytime.
When I was a kid, my family would make jokes that maybe the dish fairy would come while we were gone and clean up the kitchen and wash all the dishes. Well, the dish fairy has come to my house. I make dinner and we all eat. Then I'm tired and need to rest and put up my elephantine feet. Before I go to bed, I look in the kitchen and amazingly enough, the leftovers are put away and the dishes are washed and dried. This morning, when I woke up, the papers on the living room floor had magically picked themselves up. Having Mom here is great. I've got my hospital bag packed and all the baby laundry done and put away. I guess we're as ready as we'll ever be, but I'm hoping the baby comes this weekend (unlimited cell phone minutes) preferably Sunday (to take advantage of Grandpa's (soon to be Great-Grandpa's) incentive plan for an April Fool's baby.)
Yesterday I once again confirmed the easiest and greatest joke that you can ever tell. It starts with anyone asking, "So Curtis, is that baby here yet?"
Now here's the joke. I simply say,"No, but my mother-in-law will be staying with us starting tonight."
So far this has gotten a round of hysterical laughter from any group I tell it to. I'm thinking of starting a stand-up act.
* Went to Curtis's team's baseball game yesterday. They actually won and even got to invoke the mercy rule, so we got home early.
* My mom is on her way and should arrive here tonight. Yay, Mom!
* Today's checkup revealed no change from last week. Doctor estimates that the baby is 7 lbs or a little less (yay, no giant baby!)
* People who tell you to get lots of sleep to prepare for being up with the baby have forgotten what it's like to be 9 months pregnant. In addition to the pains, aches, bathroom trips, munchies, and inability to breathe when lying down, there's also hormone fluctuations that make you feel very awake at, say, 3am. I'm so tired of insomnia!
* Am very thrilled to answer the question, "So, when are you due?" with "Oh, next week."
As my due date approaches, we've started to seriously get ready to have a baby live here. Mostly this involves doing A LOT of laundry. Beckham thinks it's helpful to test out the baby gear.
It's been in the 80's here all week. I've been wearing all my favorite pareaus. Reading about the snow storms on the East Coast is like reading about another world. I went to the baseball game this afternoon to watch the boy coach and many people were grumbling about the heat. Ahh, warm weather and sunshine. Life is good.
Everything continues ticking along. Now that I'm full term, I get to meet with my doctor weekly until delivery. Today, she checked my cervix. For those in the know, here's the stats: effacement = 70%, dilation = 1.5, station = -1, and baby is head-down. All of which means precisely nada when it comes to predicting when this baby will be born. I still haven't had any false labor, so I'm thinking that D-day is still a ways off.
We're back and still pregnant. (Whew!)
We had a great time in Colorado. The flight there was uneventful, except that I forgot how easily motion sick I get. Takeoff and landing were not much fun. We flew into the tiny, podunky airport in Loveland. At the rental car counter, we saw some interesting flyers for stuff down in Boulder. Since we weren't essential for the wedding preparations and dinner was going to be served for hours, we went. We visited a small winery (ok), toured the Celestial Seasonings factory, and sampled at a meadery (where they make honey wine.) The tea factory smelled fantastic and they had a prairie dog town out front. We drove up to the Estes Park, CO YMCA park where the wedding was going to be held at a huge 8 bedroom cabin. On the way we saw a small herd of deer and two elk. The park was in the mountains and there was still some snow on the ground. Most people stayed up late talking and hanging out, but I was done in by 10. It was lightly snowing when I got up at 5. I watched it for a while since it would probably be finished by the time most everyone woke up.
Saturday morning, Curtis went for a jog at 8000 ft, then we both went over to the pool. He swam some lazy laps and I did exercises. From the cabin windows, we saw a herd of elk and a some pheasants. In the afternoon, before the ceremony, we gathered up a couple of other people and went into town. We went to the Estes Park Brewery that advertised free samples. They had some pretty good beers. Then we persuaded everyone else that we needed to stop at Dick's Rock Museum. It was our kind of rock shop, with bins of interesting rocks priced per pound. We got back in time to change clothes for the ceremony. The light snow, instead of stopping, had gotten heavier and continued throughout the day, so the ceremony was moved inside. It was nice and Sam looked beautiful in her dress. The food for the reception was almost all homemade and good. Everyone kept eating and returning for seconds. I started to feel sick from all the food and took a nap. Conversation lasted late into the night.
Sunday morning was more eating, though Curtis went for a short jog (it was pretty icy) and ran through another small group of elk. Curtis and I decided to get an early start for the airport and see if we could find more fun things to do around Loveland. We stopped at another winery, drank the famous local cherry cider, and went on the tour of the local Anheuser-Busch brewery. We skipped out on the sampling part to make it to the airport on time. The flight back was fine except for the landing, which was my worst ever. I wanted to throw up and die. I don't ever want to do that again. After retrieving our car, we went to the Silverton's buffet for dinner and then home to sleep in our own bed and to pet that cat.
Monday, there was no school for "Founder's Day," so Curtis played Final Fantasy XII all day and I rested. It's so nice to have a recovery day after travel.
I'm now on weekly appointments with my doctor, a clear sign that the end is approaching. Today, I got the final OK to fly this weekend. All is still normal. My belly has been very sore the last few days, so I asked if my abdominal wall had separated (a fairly normal occurrence near the end of pregnancy). Sure enough, it had and ends of the split were exactly where I would have thought based on the tenderness and pain. It's "usually painless" and typically heals on its own after delivery. Other than that, it was the usual, boring appointment. I did get a complement from my doctor. She said my appointments were so easy, not just because I'm not high-risk, but because I wasn't a complainer. I think it's because my pregnancy guide often includes in its "self-treatment and prevention" sections comments like "it will return to normal after delivery" and "remember that you are nearly to the end." I translate these comments as "suck it up and deal with it," after all no one ever said pregnancy was easy. As of Monday, I'll be considered full-term and can expect to go into labor anytime in the following five weeks. (Gee, thanks for narrowing it down.) If I'm anything like Mom, baby is likely to be late.
We had a surprise visitor last night. PJDF was on his way from Joshua Tree towards Boulder for Sam & Matt's wedding this weekend. He's on a rock-climbing tour of the US after finishing his M.S. at MIT (that other institute of technology). Here I haven't seen him in a couple of years, but when we said goodbye this morning, it was "see you this weekend!". Plus, after multiple requests, here's me after 36 weeks. Not the greatest outfit, but it had been cleaning day.
The Women's Guild at church threw me a surprise baby shower at our meeting Thursday night. It was so sweet of them. There was balloons and presents and a cake. I got more clothing in various sizes and practical items like diapers and rash creams. I also got some cash and enough Target gift cards that I was able to buy the fancy high chair that I'd wanted.
So last Friday (Curtis's birthday), the Women's Guild had their first ever soup supper at the church. I had volunteered to coordinate the event since I was the only one in the group with experience running one. (The boy and I ran a soup supper for Queen of All Saints last year.) It was quite different from Concord. There we had close to 200 people attend. At this parish, I was told that 50 would be an amazing turnout (even though the parish is MUCH larger than QAS.) We ended up having 35 or so. I made all the soup, which is pretty easy for that number of people. I made Tuscan Tomato Soup, Moraccan Bean Soup, and Corn and Shrimp Chowder all from my favorite soup cookbook. I got lots of complements on the soups and the people who were there seemed happy. Curtis came after work and helped me season the soups (my salt taste has been off since I got pregnant) and carry heavy pots. We, of course, had leftovers, which we served with lunch at the women's retreat the next day. It was a big hit. The leftover rolls that had been donated were kind of stale after sitting out, so I made them into bread pudding that I took to the Guild meeting Thursday and Curtis took the rest to work today.
Over the weekend, we had long talks and ran spreadsheets and made inquiries and decided to accept the job offer in California. We had intended Vegas to be the place where we finally settled down and put down roots, but life takes you in different directions sometimes. We won't actually be moving until late in the summer.
First, we have to have this baby. I'm so excited that it's finally March. When people ask when I'm due, I can say "at the end of THIS month." I had another boring, routine appointment with my doctor today. She'd had a rough week; she'd had to tell four women that their pregnancies were not going well. She said she was glad that I was doing so well. I think she enjoys seeing a routine, normal, healthy pregnancy. I got my letter clearing me to fly to Sam & Matt's wedding next weekend and copies of all my records just in case I go into labor in Colorado. March 10th seemed plenty far from my due date, but now at 36 weeks, it seems kind of crazy. Otherwise, I'm still going to the gym most days (though I've been very tired this week) and trying to keep my poor, swollen feet up as much as possible. The swelling in my hands has given me a mild case of carpal tunnel and the giant gut gets in the way when I'm trying to sleep. Even an "easy pregnancy" has plenty of unfun things.
