Pictures and Prelabor!

We went out yesterday with the help of our friend Brenda and attempted some amateur portraits. They turned out decent and now we have some nice pictures with both Dan and me - click on the thumbnail at the right to check them out!

After the photo session we went over to another friend's for a birthday barbecue, and a lovely false labor pattern set in for the rest of the evening. I gotta say, it was a little different than the contractions I've been having up to now - actually kinda regular and a bit more intense, causing some pinching and pulling sensations. It didn't keep me from sleeping last night, but on the other hand, its still kinda going on this morning. I am getting excited that things are warming up - hopefully we'll be ready for the real deal next weekend after my mom gets to town!

38 wks and counting....

The good news is that the baby has dropped - this is a good sign that things will happen in the next 2 wks or so - then again, we probably could have predicted that anyway.... The bad news is that at the moment he is sunny-side up - this could spell a long and painful labor - oh no!!! Thankfully there is still plenty of time for him to turn around the right way, and I am doing what I can to encourage him. The chiropractor might be of some help as well - I have been visiting her weekly lately and she has been such a godsend keeping me comfortable! Maybe she will have a trick up her sleeve to get the baby in the right position??

We did a trial run with our inflatable pool last night - it worked out great right in the middle of the dining room! The dimmer I put in made for really nice mood lighting for a relaxation practice, and I think the dogs were even more hypnotized than me - Lucy was laying completely on her back and couldn't be bothered to get up for over an hour! At least she and Giggles weren't trying to jump in the water with me!

We did our 38 wk belly pics - see the link at the right. I wanted to do some professional maternity pictures, but we are going to save the money for the newborn pics instead. I don't really like the way the ones we did tonight turned out, so later this week I think we'll go to the park and try to do some that don't have the neighbor's minivan in the background! Even though the artistic quality hasn't been great, I am glad that we took the time to document the changes as each month went by. It will be fun to put them all in a row in the baby book.

3 weeks left - that means any day now, right??

I know first babies are usually a bit late, but a girl can hope... Its sort of like the beginning of pregnancy all over again - before you know for sure, you over-analyze every little feeling in your body: was that morning sickness? are my pants getting tight? Its the same way now - was that a real contraction? do I feel crampy? has the baby dropped? (or am I just waddling because I'm huge!) I have been having a lot of practice contractions and am taking some natural remedies to help get my body ready so that I hopefully won't go too overdue. But really there's no use forcing Mother Nature... Have to try to be patient and pass the time getting things ready. But frankly, as far as the baby is concerned, everything is ready, except for him! Well, I should say, we have everything we need, but of course there's always a couple more things we want.

Anyway, perhaps to distract ourselves, we have also taken on a couple of other projects around the house. We replaced the awful glass shower doors (that were impossible to clean) with a fancy curved curtain rod just like in the hotel (ok, ok, they have them in Super 8.) I replaced the regular light switch in the dining room with a dimmer (oooooo, aaahhh!) And due to an untimely mini-flood in the basement, Dan had to haul the nasty carpet out of there and will be laying a fresh layer of peel and stick tiles down as soon as they arrive (they were backordered.) Actually, the basement situation really stank (literally, like mildew) and it will feel much less homey down there with a hard floor, but we can't risk ruining carpet again - what was there before was new when we bought the house. Sad :( Hopefully a large area rug will lend sufficient warmth when we need to use that space for a family play room as Gregory gets older.

In other news, we had a wonderful visit with Angela and Galiano from Germany as they passed through on their cross-country RV tour. Dan and I have also started to play golf, and we're finding its a good way to get some fresh air and exercise together. I'm not the only crazy pregnant lady who golfs, either - we have seen a few others out there on the links. My big belly doesn't get in the way of my swing like you might expect...and I'm hoping all the walking will do me some good, if you know what I mean.

6 wks left!

Yes, we're now at the point where we are counting the weeks left instead of the weeks completed. As the baby gets bigger, I am feeling full to the max, and I have no idea how I am going to have room for him to grow any more! I guess thats where stretch marks come into play?...don't have any yet... Sleeping through the night is a distant memory at this point, but I suppose its nature's design to prepare me, huh?

Our childbirth class is winding down - it has been really great getting to know the other couples, but we all talk so much during class that our teacher has a hard time getting through the material! Everyone has either questions, experience, or knowledge to share - but that is part of the fun. It will be really neat to see everyone's babies as they come along - we are all due within about 6 wks of each other this summer.

Other preparations (on my part at least) include lots of eating, sleeping in, reading inspirational birth stories, and frequent relaxation practice - I'm even listening to a self-hypnosis CD. Last week we assembled some of the remaining needed items: our birth kit including medical-type supplies and a blow-up pool, the carseat (a generous gift), and a new minivan. 2 big dogs + a baby = need a larger vehicle! We finally said good-bye to the trusty Fix family 1991 Honda Accord - it gave over 200,000 miles of service and was still running well, but was showing its age in rust and disintegrating leather.

So, the household is slowly transforming into a family abode...but we have to have a little more patience... I've been getting inquiries as to the plan for notifying people - the plan is that immediate family will be regularly updated when labor begins, and shortly after the birth we'll send out a mass email with pictures to let everyone else know the vital statistics. If you want to make double-sure you are on that list, let us know! Otherwise, we'll also be posting an account of the birth here on the blog within a couple of days I'm sure. And I do intend to post a couple more times before then too!

Lastly, check out my latest belly pics in the link to the right if you are so inclined - I am getting huge!

Baby's First Doll

And guess who bought it for him - his Daddy!!

Easter 07 - lots of pics!

We're having a lovely Easter weekend!

Dan's mom came down to visit and brought her nice new sewing machine. We made Roman shades for the baby's room, which turned out great considering neither of us are experts at sewing! Here are the nursery pics so far:

Rodney's mom, Bev, also sent down a beautiful crocheted baptism outfit she made for Gregory - its so special to have something like that handmade for him! Grandma Bonnie added a onesie and blanket to complete the outfit:

We picked up the mattress and glider from Nebraska Furniture Mart too, but the mattress is airing out in the garage for a few weeks, and the glider is for our bedroom, so Dan can rock the baby in the middle of the night! Dan is just so thrilled to have a glider in the house again since he broke his a couple of years ago! You can see the stress just flowing out of him when he starts rocking...hopefully it works to calm Gregory just as well!!

So things are going great - we're getting little things done here and there, and the baby is busy growing and getting ready to come out and meet us! See my 30 wk belly pics by clicking on the thumbnail at right if you want!

Starting toward the home stretch

Well here we are at 29 1/2 weeks. 11 weeks from now seems so very soon, yet so very far away! I'll update you on some of the latest developments.

At 26 wks I reported I was having some gallbladder pain. Eating smaller meals helped a little, but I mentioned the problem to my chiropractor. The best I can describe is that she did some "voodoo" on me and cured me! Actually she used a normal chiropractic technique involving identifying problematic pressure points and releasing them. It was incredibly quick, effective, and noninvasive. I simply cannot understand why conventional doctors do not use these kinds of techniques, except to speculate that it doesn't make much money for anyone - no pharmaceutical companies, insurance companies, hospitals or surgeons benefit when people are easily helped without medications or intervention. Yuck! Thank goodness for chiropractors!!

I got the nursery painted the way I want, so we started moving furniture in. The walls were already blue, but it was a bit too bright, so I softened the effect by sponging on a slightly lighter shade - its pretty subtle but gives some depth. So now we have the dresser and rug installed and will be adding a mattress soon. I am making some roman shades in a great striped fabric. A shelf, some mirrors and artwork and a little rocking chair should top it off. Its pretty fun to see the room being transformed from the dog room to a place for a new member of the family. Lucy likes to lay on the new rug - I guess its comfy, but she better not get too comfy there!

We are getting to the point where we have prenatal checkups every 2 weeks now, but there has a been a change in that department. Up to now we have been seen at the midwife clinic at the local hospital. They have given us excellent care, but the idea of delivering in the hospital just never settled with me so we have decided to go ahead and arrange a home birth. So we have found a wonderful person to attend us at home and she now comes over to our house for prenatals - its pretty cool! She and her assistant were here last Thursday. The baby's growth measured exactly on track and everything else was great too. We talked for a long time and its really just so different from the hospital midwives, as great as they were - much more personal. I can't express how relieved I am at the prospect of getting to stay home! Dan is a little less sure but he is getting used to the idea and is going to be a great labor coach using all the skills we're learning in Bradley class.

I've been stepping up my reading a little bit lately, and am currently in the middle of a fabulous book: Ina May's Guide to Childbirth by Ina May Gaskin, one of the foremost American midwives. It is an absolutely magical book full of nearly-lost women's wisdom and "secrets." I highly recommend it to anyone having a baby or thinking about it in the future. I can see that this book could change people's lives! For me, it is validation of what I was taught about birth by my own mother (and father!), ideas that are counter-cultural and which have been met with criticism and skepticism by almost everyone I've ever discussed it with. Yet not only does this perspective make sense to me from my experiences growing up, it is also incredibly consistent with my education as a biologist. I have always been baffled by the "unscientific-ness" of many of the common beliefs and practices surrounding medicalized childbirth in our culture. Anyway, this book is incredible and I have to say, I am brought to tears on almost every page - mostly with anticipation for this beautiful and amazing adventure we're heading towards. I am gaining confidence that we will be able to welcome Gregory into an environment that has continuity in its atmosphere of love, peacefulness, and respect for him as a person.