Nesting… Mom meetup group… Zen About Labour

Crazy nesting continues. Not only did I single-handedly (is this a real word? wordpress underlined it in red) assemble 3 (THREE) bookcases/wardrobes for the nursery and the closet in the nursery, assemble the baby bouncer, hang the pictures and sort and arrange all the baby stuff in all the new storage – I washed the blinds today, the windows (in the nursery) and got my hubby to mount the videocam (for baby monitor). I keep going round, wiping, cleaning, sorting, arranging. It’s insane. I am a very laid-back person when it comes to housekeeping. I usually clean when it’s dirty, but not before (or because “I always do this on Wednesdays”).

I also visited a local moms meetup group today – it was lovely (always a pleasant surprise when you meet a lot of strangers through internet and they turn out to be nice). I am hoping to get to know more mommies in the area as I know no one here (we moved here just over a year ago). Of course, they told me lots of birth, water breakage, and natural deliveries stories. And half of them told me that visiting an Italian restaurant lead them – or someone they know – to getting contractions (we met in an Italian restaurant). Hmm, we shall see.

What else?

These days, when I wake up to pee around 6 am, I cannot go back to sleep because everything aches and hurts. I am just not comfortable. I toss and turn and then get up with my hubby at 7 am. Today I managed to fall asleep on the couch, had a nice nap. I guess soon all I will be doing is napping – an hour here, half an hour there… Better get used to the couch

My sister is coming on Sunday, with my niece. I wonder if the baby will arrive before then or not (it’s my EDD). Or during (in which case I have my best friend ready to go and pick them up at the airport).

Overall, I am in a weird mood. Even the girls commented today how amazingly Zen I am about this whole labour thing. Somehow I am not worried, or excited, or anxious, or whatever. I personally feel that my attitude is similar to when I go back to Russia to visit my family: I am excited to go there and see them, but I know there will be a painfully long trip, maybe with delays, with lack of sleep, and with a heavy jet lag afterwards. This comparison might pound very weird or even insensitive to you, but that’s how I pretty much feel about the labour itself: it’s gonna be long, it’s gonna be painful, but it won’t last forever. The outcome will be very exciting, but the labour itself is not something I am looking forward to – it’s just an inevitable step on the way to meeting my baby. So I don’t think about it. And do not stress over it. Yes, I guess I am zen. At least for now. When contractions start – I might get an adrenaline rush and finally realize – THIS IT! THIS IS HAPPENING!

For now? I am cleaning, reading, and painting.

Pre-Birth Energy Boost

I remember them telling us at the prenatal classes that just before going in labour (like over the last week), you not only nest like crazy – you get an energy boost. Hmmm, I am guessing I’m there.

Today, I unpacked one of the bookcases that we had bought at Ikea yesterday. I brought it upstairs, 2 items at a time (the whole box was way too heavy). I found the necessary tools, assembled, and installed it in a closet in the nursery and re-arranged all the stuff in the closet. Now I have normal storage – there was so much space wasted!

I moved the crib and glider to allow more space for 2 more cabinets/wardrobes (they have doors, drawers, open shelves… for toys, clothes, books, stuff).

I am currently doing one final laundry load of baby stuff (I got some more after my big laundry day a month ago).

I assembled the bouncer.

I hung the paintings that I painted last week.

I added a few final items to my L&D bag (liquid snacks… jello and such).

Next I will do a laundry load and set the bed for myself in the nursery – and for the baby (well, for him its only a matter of stretching the bedsheet over the mattress )

I am sure my hubby will be horrified that I engaged in all this manual labour, but I was super-careful to not lift or push anything too heavy. And I feel so accomplished.

I can put my feet up and watch a movie now. Or maybe I should watch it while bouncing on a yoga ball…

39 Weeks

Huh, I am obviously ready to transition over to the next stage. I think for the first time I forgot to post the “week number so-and-so” post on time! A few times, I posted late – but never because I forgot.

So there you are – reaching 39 weeks finally did it. I forgot to post about it. I was preoccupied with painting, watching movies (I recently discovered you can get movies for free in your local library – which just happens to be across the street), shopping for some furniture at Ikea…

People are starting to annoy me. I though usually everyone starts asking you “any news yet?” after you pass your EDD. But no. I get emails and calls on a daily basis now. Cheerfully asking “how are you feeling? any progress? any news?” People, I am still a week away from even my EDD – and then it is pretty common to go a few days over!

I assure everyone I will let them know. I inform them we’ve created a mailing list and an email will go out as soon as we have news to share. I started asking people to not ask me the question. Argh.

The furniture we bought in Ikea yesterday ( we need more storage in the nursery) barely fit into our car. After playing tetris with the boxes, car seat that we already installed, some junk in the trunk, me and hubby, I ended up in the passenger seat pushed forward to the point that I was leaning forward, the top of my head in contact with the roof of the car (bumping on each pothole which are plentiful this time of the year), my knees squeezed between the seat and the panel. Baby didn’t appreciate this weird position and kicked me all the way home (which, thankfully, is only about 10 minutes). My hubby said that now I know how cramped our baby must feel inside

Why did I leave my driving license at home??? I could’ve been driving, having squeezed my hubby in the passenger seat…

Anyway… I feel kind of sorry for my baby. I think he should be happy to get out and be able to stretch his legs and arms Well, soon enough For now – watching movies while bouncing on a yoga ball, a lunch date in an Indian restaurant. We should also try sex. Especially since, from all I am hearing, there will be no sex for at least 6 weeks post-partum…

But I am not rushing my baby. I just hope he doesn’t stay too long past my EDD.

And since I didn’t gain ANY weight over the past 4 weeks, I am misbehaving. Ice-cream, nutella and bread all around. It’s a feast!

Nursery Decor

Perhaps you remember me running around, frustrated, trying to find cute curtains for the nursery? I ended up buying fabric. And while I still didn’t get to actually sewing the curtains, I undertook another project: I painted the characters from the fabric on 5 pieces of canvas to decorate the room and create a theme.

Curtain fabric:

My desk:

And here are the pictures:

 

Lots of Parcels

Yesterday the big package arrived – a bday present for my hubby. I got him a keyboard (piano) – he’s getting more and more into music and I am certain he’ll love it. The problem was figuring out a good spot to hide it. So we (my baby-in-the-belly and I) brought it to the top floor and hid it in a closet in the nursery. It was heavy, but not too heavy.

Today my photobook arrived. I spent quite a number of hours putting together pictures and texts – stories behind those pictures. 3.5 years, 220 pages, countless hours laying it all out, editing, proofreading… And it all arrived today – and I LOVE it! I am glad I finally did it. If not now, when?

Baby ear thermometer also arrived today – I ordered it from Costco. Every other retailer in Canada sells them at 80 bucks + taxes (which are 13% here); at Costco it was $60, shipping included. Now I have a thermometer

I also bought some small canvases to paint pictures for the nursery. I intend to copy the animals from the curtains to create a “theme”.

My hubby assembled the crib yesterday evening. I attached the mobile to it today.

Things are getting more and more real, closer and closer…

And here are a few spreads from my photobook:

Insomnia Begins?

Woke up at 3:30 am today and couldn’t go back to sleep. I was tossing and turning, my lower back hurts, my neck hurts, my hips hurt. I have 6 pillows (3 normal, 2 couch pillows and 1 breastfeeding pillow) – and I still couldn’t arrange a comfortable position for myself…

I gave up just after 6 am and got up. And now I need to start getting ready to go to work

I hope this is a just a one-off thing and not the beginning of infamous third-trimester insomnia. Unlike some people, I cannot function when severely sleep-deprived (well, certainly can’t work).

What preoccupied me during the three hours of tossing and turning was the nursery and ideas for the custom-built shelves we want there (a contractor will come a give us an estimate tomorrow… we’ll see if we can afford it or just go and buy some ikea stuff).

PS It finally snowed. Not a lot – but it finally feels like winter, for the first time this season!

Busy Bee Mode Continues

Another busy shopping day.

We bought a lamp for the nursery – this one (from Ikea):

We also bought lots of space organizing stuff – now that the nursery is becoming a nursery, we need to find other solutions to store stuff And a baby video monitor – we’ll have to test it (the previous one we returned the very next day, so crappy it was). Yay for gift cards! Those monitors are expensive.

I am tired now. A whole day of shopping is tough these days.

I can’t quite understand what makes me more or less tired. Yesterday I woke up at 8 am, full of energy (despite going to bed late, after entertaining guests). Today my hubby woke me up after 10 am – and I could hardly open my eyes. Weird.

Anyway… I washed a sports bag yesterday – now I need to go and finish packing my L&D bag.

Oh, I also placed an order for the drapes fabric today. Once it arrives, I will be sewing the drapes myself! My friend lent me her sewing machine. Although I have almost no clue how to use a sewing machine, I am very excited

Now I am starting to wonder what the heck will I be doing once I finish work? My last day is only 3 weeks away. And the nursery is getting pretty ready. Hmm. I guess I will be napping, reading, watching movies

De-Cluttering and Organizing the Nursery-to-Be

I am packing the L&D bag. I just sterilized a pacifier and a feeding bottle – just in case. I packed bra pads and nipple creams and receiving blankets (all laundered, all smelling of babies )

I realized I need a central place for all the manuals. Especially if I plan to re-use most of the stuff in the future – whenever we are blessed with another child. Perfect task for my hubby – he likes organizing stuff.

I have TONS of toys already (most are hand-me-downs). Seriously – I think I will ask our friends to NOT give toys to our baby. Ever. I was trying to figure out where to store them all for now – and remembered we have an old laundry hamper in the garage. I gave it a thorough wash – as soon as it dried up, I will drop all the toys in there.

We decided we need to build some shelves in the nursery – to keep boxes with toys, books, etc. We lack storage space ALREADY. I am glad we got so much stuff for free as hand-me-downs, but the amount of stuff is insane. And we don’t have a basement to dump all of this to. We’ll talk to a contractor and see how much what we have in mind will cost.

I am not sure where to keep all the baby bathing paraphernalia. In the bathroom or get a caddy to carry it around?

I am not certain whether the clean baby clothes should be zip-locked, or I am going to far (I am talking about clothes I am packing for the L&D bag, not the ones I keep at home ). I also am not sure whether I can just drop diapers in the bag or need a sterile ziploc?

I also need to find a logical place to keep bottle brushes and stuff.

The nursery is starting to look less like a storage space and more like an actual nursery. I need to finish the de-cluttering before the crib arrives, though.

34 Weeks – and Merry Christmas

34 weeks today.

Life is getting harder. Well, heavier. Getting up from the couch is hard, I have to push myself with my arms – or use my hubby’s help. Getting up from bed is even harder. Rolling onto another side is often easier with standing up on all fours then with actual rolling through lying on the back for a second. Getting up the stairs is a chore. Eating leaves me most of the time with an overstuffed feeling – especially on days like today.

Oh yes – Merry Christmas, by the way

Got a very nice xmas present from a friend today – a templated baby’s first year book. It has pages like “the first time you walked was…” or “the first time you ate solids…” – and empty spaces for photos. Very cute.

My hubby got me (among other gifts) a small knitting kit to knit baby booties. Although the instructions turned out to be far more complicated than expected (he assumed it was a beginner’s set – and I haven’t held knitting needles since I was about 13 or so).

Funny. Our baby isn’t even born yet, but he\s already – sort of – getting presents

How fun the next xmas is going to be! He’ll be quite big by the time. Definitely crawling – maybe even walking! Just imagine!

I roasted a chicken today for the first in my life! Not turkey – since there were only 4 meat-eaters among us. I stuffed it with apples and sewed it tightly closed using my curved needle – the one I used to re-upholster the glider It turned out quite good. I am proud of myself.

I got briefly scared today. Baby was doing some weird twitching and then abruptly went very still. I got this fear that he died in there – I don’t know why. And I massaged my belly, and pressed on his little bum, and tried to find his feet and press – but he remained quiet. I was having an internal fight: to freak out and go to the hospital immediately – or to be rational and stay put. The baby started moving again and all is well. I have no idea why I freaked out all of a sudden…

My mom thinks that I will go in labour earlier than I am supposed to – because of the size of the baby. Well, many people seem to think that. But I haven’t heard of anyone going in labour early because of the size issues. Only having c-sections because of the size issues.

Anyway.

Yesterday was a big laundry day. I washed all baby clothes, towels, bed sheets, etc. I also sorted all the other clothes that we got as gifts or hand-me-downs for older ages and labeled the boxes and put them away. Got my baby cooshie changer today (my friend bought it for me – the store was around the corner from where she lives).

Need to wash hand-me-down toys (most of them cannot be machine-washed, so I’ll have o spend some time wiping them with soap and water). I also need to finally make the decision and choose and order fabrics for the nursery curtains. The crib should arrive in early January.

We are getting closer and closer and closer.

Getting Closer to the “We Are Ready!”

Today was a tiresome day. Big grocery shopping – I am having friends over on the 25th. And big baby-related shopping. Hubby is freaking out that there are so many things to be done, so even though there is no real need to buy these things right now, I decided to provide him some relief.

5 hours later – I am home.

Grocery store was a ZOO. Insanity.

And then I went shopping for nursing pads, high-waist cotton panties, buttoned shirts, baby mittens, hypoallergenic laundry detergent, etc.

There are a few items we still need to buy – like a baby video monitor. They’re all ridiculously expensive in Canada (about 40% above the US prices!) and we cannot decide which one to buy. We bought one when we were in states – and we returned it the very next day. The batteries didn’t hold the charge – and all the reviewers online were complaining about the same thing.

I still need to decide which fabrics to order for the nursery curtains – which I will be sewing myself.

I need to do the big laundry and to pack the L&D bag. And then the remaining things will be small ones.