Well, hopefully this is the home stretch. And yet, nothing really seems that different! I don't feel like I'm about to become a mother. I don't feel like my life is about to change forever. I don't feel like this big belly is about to turn into a real live baby that I can hold and talk to. I suppose you just can't imagine until it happens.
We had a big scare the last couple of days...we found some bugs in our bed (yuck) and elsewhere that we really thought were bedbugs. I was so distraught to think we would have to bring our newborn daughter home to an infested apartment! So then we called the exterminator and if you want to get rid of bedbugs, you basically have to clean your apartment out completely, emptying all the drawers and closets and doing all the laundry. We felt a task of that magnitude would be simply impossible, with John needing to spend as much time as possible on his dissertation now and me possibly going into labor at any time (not to mention, I can no longer cart laundry baskets back and forth to the laundry room). But then the exterminators looked at a specimen of the bug we gave them, and decided that they WEREN'T bed bugs! YAY! I never would have thought I'd be so happy to have beetles in my house, and apparently they don't bite humans and you can get rid of them with store-bought insect spray. This is a HUGE relief!
Meanwhile, I think everything is ready for the baby to get here. All her clothes are washed and ready for me to dress her up, we have all our other supplies (diapers, bottles, etc), and I've been keeping on top of the clutter and cleaning so that when I do go into labor, it won't be too messy when we get back. We even just did most of our laundry, so I don't have to worry about that for a while. My girlfriends are coming later this week, and assuming I'm still pregnant we're going shopping so I can get some nursing bras (my old bras totally don't fit anymore), some really comfy clothes to wear post-partum, and some durable sandals I can wear on walks with my new little girl.
People are starting to make real guesses now about BL's birthday. Annie said March 30th (also her birthday). Sara says April 1st (conveniently the last day she will be here visiting me). I say April 16th, by induction (since they don't let the babies stay in past 42 weeks). John, of course, found data on when women give birth in relation to their due dates and used that info to calculate the probability that I will go into labor for each day from now on; he updates it pretty much every day. According to those calculations, as of today the probability of going into labor rises above 50% on April 4th. Oh, the anticipation!
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Wednesday, March 12, 2008
BL is officially full term!
Today is the beginning of week 37, which means that BL's parts should be all done! Very exciting.
On Sunday, we went to tour the hospital, so now we know just where to go when it's time. The facilities looked very comfortable, and the nurse showing us around also seemed nice. We even got to see some just-born little babies in the nursery! SO adorable...I can't believe I have one of those in my belly right now! They all looked so healthy and alert. Their poor parents had to get to the hospital in the blizzard!
Then Monday, we went to the doctor, who said there's nothing going on yet in terms of effacement or dilation. I was kind of disappointed about that, but from what I read it's actually not too much of an indication of when labor will begin. But she did say that the more happens before labor, the shorter your labor is...so I could be in for some trouble! :( But it's really too soon to tell. We also talked about my birth plan and in general she seemed ok with everything I had expressed on it. The only thing was she said I had to have a capped IV started, when I had said I didn't want one. It's not that big of a deal, and all it means is I'll probably labor for longer at home. But depending on what I learn from my first birth, I definitely might look into the home birth or birthing center options in Tallahassee!
Also this afternoon, we went to a second pediatrician that we liked much better than the first one. She can come to our hospital to check on BL after she's born, and her general attitude seemed much more consistent with what we were looking for, so we were happy.
That means everything is just about ready! I even bought clothes for my daughter for the first time this weekend...just a couple of pairs of pants for when we want to carry her out in the Baby Bjorn. It is hard to get everything all set and then have to wait for weeks more, but I guess that's just how it goes. I'm getting very excited but also a little scared at the same time.
Scroll down to check out some new pics!
On Sunday, we went to tour the hospital, so now we know just where to go when it's time. The facilities looked very comfortable, and the nurse showing us around also seemed nice. We even got to see some just-born little babies in the nursery! SO adorable...I can't believe I have one of those in my belly right now! They all looked so healthy and alert. Their poor parents had to get to the hospital in the blizzard!
Then Monday, we went to the doctor, who said there's nothing going on yet in terms of effacement or dilation. I was kind of disappointed about that, but from what I read it's actually not too much of an indication of when labor will begin. But she did say that the more happens before labor, the shorter your labor is...so I could be in for some trouble! :( But it's really too soon to tell. We also talked about my birth plan and in general she seemed ok with everything I had expressed on it. The only thing was she said I had to have a capped IV started, when I had said I didn't want one. It's not that big of a deal, and all it means is I'll probably labor for longer at home. But depending on what I learn from my first birth, I definitely might look into the home birth or birthing center options in Tallahassee!
Also this afternoon, we went to a second pediatrician that we liked much better than the first one. She can come to our hospital to check on BL after she's born, and her general attitude seemed much more consistent with what we were looking for, so we were happy.
That means everything is just about ready! I even bought clothes for my daughter for the first time this weekend...just a couple of pairs of pants for when we want to carry her out in the Baby Bjorn. It is hard to get everything all set and then have to wait for weeks more, but I guess that's just how it goes. I'm getting very excited but also a little scared at the same time.
Scroll down to check out some new pics!
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
36 Weeks: Less Than A Month To Go (We Hope!)
I guess we're basically at that point where we need to be ready for the big day, whenever it may come. We almost are. I think we have everything we need for BL, and Susan was kind enough to wash all the clothes/layette for us. I packed a bag for labor, but I still need to pack some stuff for post-partum, I suppose. I don't know what clothes to pack for that, or if I even have appropriate ones! I think I'm supposed to pick things that I don't mind getting kind of ruined... I hope we don't have any complications. We realized that we've really had it easy so far, but that doesn't mean that everything will be cake with the actual delivery, or even with our little girl. But we try not to worry too much.
A couple of things we haven't done yet are our hospital tour and settling on a pediatrician. The hospital tour is this weekend, so then we can check that off the list. We went to a meet-and-greet with a pediatrician last night, and were kind of surprised to find she wasn't a good fit for us. John thought she acted like she didn't need or necessarily even want our business. I didn't like how much she seemed to support formula feeding. Then right as we were leaving she said, "epidurals are a wonderful thing...make sure you get to the hospital in time to have one!" That just kind of rubbed me the wrong way, I guess, since I plan on laboring a lot at home and don't want to have an epidural. But most importantly, we found out that doctors from that practice don't come to OSU, where we're delivering, to do the first checkup, so we'd have to bring BL over to them in the first couple days. I doubt we'll feel like doing that, so we're meeting a different one next week.
Since I am going to try to have a natural birth, I've been very curious about my own pain tolerance. I think it's decent, but now every time I feel some type of pain I think to myself, "so, how much more could I stand, and for how long?" A couple of nights ago I had a pretty bad stomachache (not related to the baby, amazingly) that kind of incapacitated me for a couple of hours. The whole time, all I thought about was how much worse I could handle. Fortunately, the answer seems to be "a lot worse!" I'm finding there's a big difference between pain that just makes you want to lay on the couch and whimper, and pain that you actually can't bear. But despite what this sounds like, I'm actually just trying not to think about or anticipate it too much!
A couple of things we haven't done yet are our hospital tour and settling on a pediatrician. The hospital tour is this weekend, so then we can check that off the list. We went to a meet-and-greet with a pediatrician last night, and were kind of surprised to find she wasn't a good fit for us. John thought she acted like she didn't need or necessarily even want our business. I didn't like how much she seemed to support formula feeding. Then right as we were leaving she said, "epidurals are a wonderful thing...make sure you get to the hospital in time to have one!" That just kind of rubbed me the wrong way, I guess, since I plan on laboring a lot at home and don't want to have an epidural. But most importantly, we found out that doctors from that practice don't come to OSU, where we're delivering, to do the first checkup, so we'd have to bring BL over to them in the first couple days. I doubt we'll feel like doing that, so we're meeting a different one next week.
Since I am going to try to have a natural birth, I've been very curious about my own pain tolerance. I think it's decent, but now every time I feel some type of pain I think to myself, "so, how much more could I stand, and for how long?" A couple of nights ago I had a pretty bad stomachache (not related to the baby, amazingly) that kind of incapacitated me for a couple of hours. The whole time, all I thought about was how much worse I could handle. Fortunately, the answer seems to be "a lot worse!" I'm finding there's a big difference between pain that just makes you want to lay on the couch and whimper, and pain that you actually can't bear. But despite what this sounds like, I'm actually just trying not to think about or anticipate it too much!
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