Early and Natural or On-Time/Late and C-Section?

I still cannot comment on blogspot. Correction: only on captcha-protected blogs. I have no idea what the problem is, but it just won’t let me publish, which is extremely frustrating. Things are happening – people are reaching their EDDs, people are re-looking their life attitudes and need supports, etc., etc. – and I cannot say a word to them. ARGH!

Hopefully this will go away soon.

As to me, I need to talk to my OB. If we find out that the baby is really, really big during my Tuesday ultrasound, what is best for the baby? Get me induced and get him delivered earlier (but vaginally) or let him be and deliver him whenever he’s ready – which probably will be through a c-section due to his size?

Well, perhaps I am getting worried too early – maybe the ultrasound will show that he’s not all that big. Maybe. But what if? What’s better for him? Safer?

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:

Grunting and Huffing anf Puffing

I don’t know what the hell is wrong, but I cannot post comments on any of the blogspot blogs today. I click “publish” and keep getting back to the same screen. Or I keep typing in the security word and getting messages I typed them wrong. Not 15 times in a row, goddammit! Sorry for swearing, I am really annoyed.

Anyway, to all of you from blogspot – I am reading your postings and am thinking of you. Even while not being able to comment.

While I was out visiting my friend today, my hubby assembled the bed. It’s ready! Yay! It looks so big, I feel like at least half a dozen of babies would fit there

The baby is getting extremely active. Where on Earth did they get the notion that babies move less in the last weeks because there’s no space? My baby certainly did not read that memo. Looks like he’s pretending to be a starfish today. Ouch.

Funny thing is, the closer I am getting to my EDD, the more unbelievable it feels that there’s going to be a baby. My baby. I got so used to these movements on the inside of my belly (well, for the most part), that I don’t think of them much. In the beginning it was all “ooohhh, a human being just moved inside me!” – and no it’s just me stroking my belly absentmindedly, or trying to push some limbs back in. Maybe this whole pregnancy thing is a bit too long – you get used to carrying this huge belly around, being constantly kicked in your liver, dealing with hemorrhoids and an awful lot of fluids leaking out. Get used so much that it feels like the baby will just never arrive. That you will stay pregnant forever. Grunting to sit down. Sighing to stand up. Making horrible noises in the bathroom.

Ahhh, the joys of it…

*now let me assure you this all has to be read with a healthy dose of sarcasm in my voice… I don’t truly feel as frustrated or angry or whichever way this sounds. I love my baby and am very happy to have had this amazing experience to be preggo. But I do wish more women wrote the truth – what the pregnancy truly is like, and not those prettied up versions because they feel they might seem ungrateful by stating the truth…*

Anyhow… counting the days. Can’t wait to start my sleepless nights

First Day on Matleave

I keep forgetting to take the prescribed iron. So I keep being super-tired

I woke up full of energy, happy to finally be on matleave. Took out my pencils, did a sketch of a rubber ducky that was part of the gift basket I got from work.

Went across the street to pick The Help from the library.

Got my hair cut. And a bottle of pretty expensive protein cream for my dry hair.

Spent a bit more time drawing.

And then around 6-7 pm it hit me – the Tiredness. I feel like going to bed right now. Which sucks…

I Need to Rest, Not Plan!

I know that I just stopped working – today – but I already filled out the matleave application and saved links to online forms for child benefits and applying for social insurance number (Canadian analogue of the American SSN).

Getting my haircut tomorrow. If I don’t get it now – who knows when I will be able to?

Dropping by my best friend’s new place on Thursday. She just separated with her husband – she needs dome love! IF was one of the things that drove them apart

Have High Tea plans on Saturday with my girlfriends.

My hubby’s bday is fast approaching (I hope our baby doesn’t arrive on his bday!)

Seriously, I shouldn’t be packing my days with plans. I should be relaxing!!!

Down with Work

C’est tout. This was my last day at work. Feels bizarre. Not having to go to work any longer. To wake up at 7 (ok, 7:30). To commute.

Basically, between now and baby’s arrival, I don’t have to do anything. Weird.

So what are my plans? I don’t have any. Relax, read, paint, do nothing. Enjoy the quiet – it won’t last

OB Appointment #8

Yet another appointment. I had to wait for 2 hours today! TWO!!! That’s ridiculous. Especially since tomorrow is my last day at work. I felt really uncomfortable being away for so long.

Baby still hasn’t dropped. Still looks big – so next week I will have an ultrasound to try and estimate his size.

Perfect blood pressure.

My late afternoon tiredness got explained: low iron. Got a prescription to add to my vitamins (mmm… I’m really bad with taking vitamins… I cannot even remember the last time I took a vitamin… a week ago?)

Apparently, Eastern European women tend to deliver later than 40 weeks. Which is why baby’s size is very important: the longer he stays in, the bigger he gets. And when it’s you first pregnancy, delivering a big baby is really hard. According to my OB.

My test results from last time are all normal (the swab test to make sure it is safe for the baby to pass through my birth canal).

So… looks like the baby isn’t about to arrive yet.

 

37 Weeks – Getting Paranoid

37 weeks – aka full-term.

And I am getting increasingly paranoid, going through actions familiar to me from the first trimester – checking out my toilet paper for blood (no more going to pee without turning on the light in the middle of the night), paying lots of attention to every pain and ache – and its location, reading about signs of labour and signs of anything going wrong.

Yesterday I was having episodes of sharp pains in the cervix area and some irregular dull pains in my lower back area, some similar to menstrual cramps, some – as if I need to go to the bathroom. I’ve had none since yesterday afternoon, though – so they were all false contractions (if they were contraction at all). Mut the cervix pains might have been my cervix starting to thin out? I’ll ask my OB tomorrow.

I woke up with a distinct feeling of some fluid leaking out of me, but when I went to the washroom – there was none. Told ya – I am getting paranoid.

Judging by my belly shape, dropping hasn’t occurred yet. I still have a very prominent belly in the front. I don’t have any other way to judge by: I don’t have any breathing problems like most women do (my belly is big enough to allow the baby to hang out outside, without putting any pressure on my lungs) and there already is lots of pressure down below – and swelling. Well, we’ll see what OB says tomorrow.

Anyway, I doubt the baby will arrive within the next week or two. These doubts aren’t based on anything – just my guess. Still – I am getting increasingly paranoid…