Can it be?
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Tuesday, June 30, 2009
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A full 13 days past our due date and one day before our scheduled induction, it looks like my body knows how to go into labor after all. We hope to be holding our little bean later today. Please keep us in your thoughts until then!
The longest 10 days of my life
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Saturday, June 27, 2009
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The longer she makes us wait, the more I knit,
Sheldon turtle knit from knitpicks shine sport, Baby Merry-Janes knit with Cascade 220, Newborn hat made with knitpicks Bare in worsted, Aleenan mekko dress made with knitpicks shine sport, and Crumpets dress knit with Rowan DK cotton.
and sew,
Very baby pocket diapers, microfiber inserts, and hemp fleece wipes.
and bake.
Ginger-spiced scones with cashews and dates from Vegan Planet and chewy oatmeal-raisin cookies from Veganomicon.
Overripe
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Friday, June 19, 2009
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Dear Bean,
Well, the date that we've been thinking about, repeating to one another, and preparing for these past several months has come and gone with little fanfare. It seems that you are healthy and comfortable right where you are and that's where you plan to stay, for now. Sad as it is, this temporary arrangement we have going on is coming to an end. (It seems you may not have gotten the memo--your current living situation was always meant to be temporary. We have made other, more roomy arrangements for you that we think you'll like just as well.)
I understand how stressful moving can be (and I fear that this first move of yours is going to be stressful and painful for all of us), but it can't be avoided. Your parents are ready for you. Your grandparents won't stop calling to ask about you. The neighbors have even started asking where you are. The two of us together are just too big.
Its time.
We can't wait to meet you,
Mom
Well, the date that we've been thinking about, repeating to one another, and preparing for these past several months has come and gone with little fanfare. It seems that you are healthy and comfortable right where you are and that's where you plan to stay, for now. Sad as it is, this temporary arrangement we have going on is coming to an end. (It seems you may not have gotten the memo--your current living situation was always meant to be temporary. We have made other, more roomy arrangements for you that we think you'll like just as well.)
I understand how stressful moving can be (and I fear that this first move of yours is going to be stressful and painful for all of us), but it can't be avoided. Your parents are ready for you. Your grandparents won't stop calling to ask about you. The neighbors have even started asking where you are. The two of us together are just too big.
Its time.
We can't wait to meet you,
Mom
39 Weeks
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Wednesday, June 10, 2009
}
I just got back from my 39 week midwife appointment. It would seem all the contractions I've been having have actually been doing something--I went from just a fingertip dilated last week to a full 1 cm, 50-60% effaced and the bean is at a -2 station. (She needs to move from -4 to 0 and then on to +4, which is at the exit, so she's started heading in the right direction!) I'm fully expecting a long wait, but having a little progress is so reassuring!
Still, it will definitely serve our purposes and thank goodness there won't be a lot ofdaddy mommy references!
I asked our midwife to estimate how big the bean might end up being and she told me 8 - 8 1/2 pounds. Some may think me crazy for rejoicing at this news, but considering I myself was a 10 pounder, 8 pounds doesn't bother me at all. I know the estimate could be off, but I needed to hear at this point that they think she's going to be at least a tad smaller than I was, whether it ends up being the case or not.
So, the plan for next week is to have a non-stress test on my due date. If, for some reason, the bean isn't doing well they'll send me right off for an induction, otherwise I'll be offered an induction for the following week (which I'll decline). Then we'll have more waiting, I'm sure.
We're still keeping ourselves busy with cleaning and working on house projects until the bean decides to show her face. For some reason, I'm procrastinating on finishing up my diaper sewing and putting those last couple items into the hospital bag. I did, however, convince the boy that we should set up the pack and play in the living room, just in case that's what was keeping the bean. Doesn't seem to have had much of an effect, though.
We realized as we were starting to pack our hospital bags that we as yet didn't have a baby book. I hadn't really given this much thought, as I expected we'd pick something up at one of the baby stores. I knew that we'd end up with something that mentioned mommy and daddy, but figured it'd only be one page and we could work around it. Unfortunately, when we started looking at the books, most had mommy and daddy references on every page. That clearly won't work for us, so we explored our options with internet retailers and found this.
This book advertises itself for single, adoptive, and same-sex parents and has removable pages, so it can be customized for most any situation. There is even a page for information about the sperm (or egg) donor, which we thought would be nice for the bean to have. Its not quite as flashy as some of the other books we've looked at; in fact, we both thought we could have made sometime similar ourselves but we also knew it would be a project we'd think about and possibly never finish before the bean arrived.
Still, it will definitely serve our purposes and thank goodness there won't be a lot of
38 Weeks
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Wednesday, June 03, 2009
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I've been saying this for a while, but I just can't believe how far along we are in this pregnancy. 38 weeks! While I feel completely and utterly ready for this pregnancy to be at its end, I'm also shocked at how quickly the time has passed.
Truthfully, I've been really uncomfortable lately and, though I'm trying to stay positive, I was pretty down today. Luckily, our incredible midwife completely cheered me up at my checkup by joking with me that the baby won't come before I'm completely miserable and reassuring me that just as many women have their babies in the two weeks before their due dates as have them in the two weeks after. I asked her to check me and then lie about what she found and, while I'm typically prissy about talking about such things as the condition of my cervix, I'll share what she told me. The bean is low, although not yet engaged, and I'm a fingertip dilated. Now I have no idea whether she was just complying with my request or actually telling me the truth, but it doesn't matter one bit. I can pin all my hopes onto a fingertip's worth of dilation and that should get me through another week. Hopefully by then there'll be a bit more progress and that can get me through until our due date (at which point I may cry hysterically and beg the bean to please come out, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it).
Anyway, lets all distract ourselves with some crafty goodness, eh?
First of all, I am more-than-a-little-bit proud to announce that the blanket I have been knitting this entire pregnancy is now complete.
This should give you an idea of the size (it turned out quite a bit bigger than I had planned, but the boy and I both agree that the larger size is better, after all).
Truthfully, I've been really uncomfortable lately and, though I'm trying to stay positive, I was pretty down today. Luckily, our incredible midwife completely cheered me up at my checkup by joking with me that the baby won't come before I'm completely miserable and reassuring me that just as many women have their babies in the two weeks before their due dates as have them in the two weeks after. I asked her to check me and then lie about what she found and, while I'm typically prissy about talking about such things as the condition of my cervix, I'll share what she told me. The bean is low, although not yet engaged, and I'm a fingertip dilated. Now I have no idea whether she was just complying with my request or actually telling me the truth, but it doesn't matter one bit. I can pin all my hopes onto a fingertip's worth of dilation and that should get me through another week. Hopefully by then there'll be a bit more progress and that can get me through until our due date (at which point I may cry hysterically and beg the bean to please come out, but we'll cross that bridge when we get to it).
Anyway, lets all distract ourselves with some crafty goodness, eh?
First of all, I am more-than-a-little-bit proud to announce that the blanket I have been knitting this entire pregnancy is now complete.
This should give you an idea of the size (it turned out quite a bit bigger than I had planned, but the boy and I both agree that the larger size is better, after all).
And the border. This is the Prairie Blanket by Oat Couture knit with some super soft alpaca yarn we picked up at Rhinebeck last year.
Next up is the Helena sweater
and a Cable Cap
both of which were also knit from some yarn we picked up at Rhinebeck, but I seem to have lost the ball band. I'm fairly certain it was superwash wool, but now I might be too scared to wash it in the washer. I guess we'll see how it wears before I decide.
And finally, a Tri-peak hat.
And I may still owe her a pair of booties, but that's probably enough wool for a baby who'll be born in the summer, don't you think?
I'm still working on all those knit toys I promised to make and, of course, there's always diaper sewing to keep me busy until she finally decides to make an appearance.
37 Weeks
{
Monday, June 01, 2009
}
Some time ago, I posted about my worries over the baby's position. She spent a few weeks flipping around and experimenting with being breach, but thankfully she's proven to be very open to my suggestion that she get her head down and start preparing for her exit. She's been head down at the last several checkups, thank goodness!
I also learned at my last checkup that my group B strep test was negative--another relief! No antibiotics for me during labor, thank you very much.
The only small bit of bad news is that the midwives think the bean might be posterior. This means that, while her head is down, she is facing my belly and we'd much prefer she be looking backward. I've been assigned some exercises to do to try to encourage her to turn around, since posterior means painful back labor and let's not forget that I'm trying to do this thing without an epidural. I hope she's open to some more friendly suggestions about her position!
Finally, I keep saying over and over that the bean can come whenever she wants, but we only just got a carseat for her this weekend. The carseat is very important if you plan to actually take the baby home from the hospital. We were lucky enough to inherit a gently used seat from a toddler we know and we spent the weekend cleaning it up and reading through the manual. I'll be taking it to the fire department this week to have it installed and then we're ready. After that, you can come whenever you want, bean, this time I mean it.
Early on in my pregnancy, my mother informed me that she believed all babies come early because all of her spontaneous births were early (there are four of us, my youngest sibling was a planned c-section). I'm positive of this information because I've been clinging hopefully to it for the last two weeks. Yesterday, I decided to confirm with her that my oldest sibling was, in fact, born early as well, since that's the only birth relevant to my situation. Mom has changed her story--she insists I'm confused and it was she herself who was born early, the three of us were all two weeks late. *sigh* I'm hoping her memory has faded and we weren't all THAT late. (For me, I'll take due date or just a day or two after, please!)
Finally, I had contractions all weekend with varying degrees of discomfort, none anything I would describe as painful. I know it doesn't mean that the bean is coming anytime soon, but its still comforting to think that something is going on.
I also learned at my last checkup that my group B strep test was negative--another relief! No antibiotics for me during labor, thank you very much.
The only small bit of bad news is that the midwives think the bean might be posterior. This means that, while her head is down, she is facing my belly and we'd much prefer she be looking backward. I've been assigned some exercises to do to try to encourage her to turn around, since posterior means painful back labor and let's not forget that I'm trying to do this thing without an epidural. I hope she's open to some more friendly suggestions about her position!
Finally, I keep saying over and over that the bean can come whenever she wants, but we only just got a carseat for her this weekend. The carseat is very important if you plan to actually take the baby home from the hospital. We were lucky enough to inherit a gently used seat from a toddler we know and we spent the weekend cleaning it up and reading through the manual. I'll be taking it to the fire department this week to have it installed and then we're ready. After that, you can come whenever you want, bean, this time I mean it.
Early on in my pregnancy, my mother informed me that she believed all babies come early because all of her spontaneous births were early (there are four of us, my youngest sibling was a planned c-section). I'm positive of this information because I've been clinging hopefully to it for the last two weeks. Yesterday, I decided to confirm with her that my oldest sibling was, in fact, born early as well, since that's the only birth relevant to my situation. Mom has changed her story--she insists I'm confused and it was she herself who was born early, the three of us were all two weeks late. *sigh* I'm hoping her memory has faded and we weren't all THAT late. (For me, I'll take due date or just a day or two after, please!)
Finally, I had contractions all weekend with varying degrees of discomfort, none anything I would describe as painful. I know it doesn't mean that the bean is coming anytime soon, but its still comforting to think that something is going on.
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