What to Talk About?

Well how annoying has this blog gotten? I'll give you one guess to guess what I might mention in this post.

Guess yet?

How about now?

Well if you said, "Leah's going to talk about how she's still pregnant" then you would be correct! DING DING DING!!!!!

I know, this blog used to be filled with all kinds of wittyness, and awesomeness and so on and so forth. Now it's just repeating the same thing over and over.

LeahC is still fat and pregnant and not happy about it.

I should have known better to think that she would be early or on time. My family tends to make big babies that arrive late. Which is awesome. In addition to being late, I'm pretty sure she's going to be giant sized. I think my adviser said that his son was over 11lbs at birth (seriously...he was born in Switzerland when he was working at CERN) and so Jason is wondering if we can beat that one. Oh please I hope not. 

Not much going on today. Reading, walking, knitting, mario galaxying and patiently (!!!) waiting for labor. Tomorrow we go to the doc so we'll see if something interesting is happening. Happy Monday All.

Lucy Room Pictures

We finished Lucy's room about a week ago and I realized I had yet to put pictures of it up here. My tripod broke and so not as clear as my photos of her room usually are, but you'll get the idea.

These are a few of her crib area. The print above her bed was purchased at the Wells Street art fair and the cubbie mobile plays, "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and was purchased by Lucy's grandpa. Although her Baba (my mom/ex-wife of grandpa...Baba is Ukrainian for grandma) would like Lucy to know that she saw it on Amazon a long time ago but didn't purchase it and so really she wins. Yes it's all about winning in my family. My entire childhood was me asking, "Is this a winning game?"

This corner is directly across from her crib and hosts several of the prints we got including room for many to go up in the future. The rocking chair was also purchased at an art fair and is one of the most comfortable rocking chairs I have sat in. I think Lucy will like being rocked in it. I love the little reading light next to the chair and am realizing that Lucy's room is way way cooler than our room and that we might have gone overboard.

We got this light fixture at Ikea and think it's pretty fun and makes the light a little less harsh in the room.

This is her changing table with two prints of little pigs over the top shelf which we got at an art fair in Bloomington, Indiana. Right now Teddy is holding Lucy's place and we are using him to practice diapering/any baby swings, car seats etc. No I'm not kidding that we strapped him into the car seat. And it was super cute.

This dresser was actually my Dad's grandparents dresser. Then it was his, then it was mine. Then we refinished it and now it'll be Lucy's. The clock on the right was given to Jason and I from my mom for our wedding and it's supposed to do fun things on the hour. It's supposed to play a song and the face opens up and turns around but it's not working for some reason. The print is another one we got at the Wells Street art fair.

This final one is just looking into the room from the hallway.

Did we do too much? Probably.
Is her room way cooler than any other room in the house? Yes.
Am I worried about when we move out and then landlord seeing that green paint? Absolutely.
Are we totally excited for Lucy to arrive? More than you can imagine.
Is mom totally bored out of her mind and wondering what the hell she's going to do this week? Yes. With a capital 'Y'.

Earlier today she moved so much and we don't know if she realizes she'll be so much more comfortable out here with us as I'm guessing those long legs and giant head are running out of room.

So I guess this is just preparation for me to get ready to not be able to control every little thing like I like right now.  I'm just such a planner and I'm always on time for things and so on and I'm guessing sometimes I'm just going to have to let things go if they don't go exactly according to plan. Maybe Lucy is already teaching her mom a lesson. Maybe....but maybe Lucy will just have to learn to be on time in the future. Not even here yet and already a Daddy's little girl.

The Stuffing Didn't Do It

We had a wonderful thanksgiving yesterday at my Aunt's house. There is a story that my cousin's wife's sister (got all that) went to thanksgiving there two years ago and then at about midnight went into labor. AND she had gone to the doctor a few days before and they told her that she wasn't even close to and so nothing to worry about. I thought maybe there was something special in the stuffing that induced labor. Apparently my Aunt is batting .500 as I am clearly not in labor and I am thinking the stuffing has made it through my system.

And so we continue to wait and hope and not be in labor or have one single fucking sign of starting the labor process. I really really want her to come on her own or at least have some progress before I have to be induced in 10 days. I just worry that there won't be any progress and I'm starting to worry that she's going to come out giant sized. Although, I was giant sized and look at how perfect I turned out, so I suppose that will be ok.

Today I'm going downtown to take some pictures of the holiday shopping crowds and walk through the German market and meet the soon to be dad for lunch. Maybe black friday crowds will do it....although I bet that it's calmed down a bit by this time given that the crazy starts at like 4am. So the crazies that did got out should be back home and napping by this point.

Should be a pretty fun weekend. With no plans I'm guessing we'll just be enjoying each other's company and staring at my belly hoping for something different to happen with it.

Run Her Out?

Jason and I just went for a nice little walk in some cold weather. Feels like winter is almost upon us, which is perfect timing since we got our firewood supply delivered yesterday.

So on this walk it was a little chilly and I was like hey, I'm wearing running pants and running shoes let's see what happens if I run a little. So I started running, and might have started yelling, "I'M WINNING". Winning what? The crazy pregnant lady race? Yeah.

So I ran from about Racine to Ashland, about 1/2 mile. Aside from shin splints felt good. It would be funny if it worked and my water broke in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner, right? If anything else, just to see my Dad and Jason's reaction. I think so too.

We are very much enjoying Jason having the day off. Watching some Indiana Jones this morning, and now watching some Turkey day football. Leaving in about 2 hours to go pick up my Dad and Sue to then head to Downers Grove for yummy dinner.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Hates Lateness

I put in an order for firewood on Monday and the original plan was they were going to deliver it yesterday between 2 and 4pm. 3:55 rolled around and so I gave the place a call just saying I was checking in and seeing if they were going to still show up. They said that holiday traffic was killing them and the guy would be there, but just be late. Eventually I talked to the driver at about 4:50 who was still stuck on the Kennedy and asked to reschedule for today at 9am. No problem on this end.

It's now 9:09 and he's not here yet. Granted he said 9:30 at the latest, and so I'm not mad yet. However, I just think that 9:09 is later than 9am even if you did say the latest would be 9:30. How about a call saying, yep, still on our way or something.

I HATE LATENESS. I know there is nothing you can do about traffic (or babies not being ready to come out on time or early) but when you reschedule you should be on the phone calling me if you are going to be late. Now I am going to have to be the bad guy on the phone and be like yeah your delivery guys isn't here yet and I have to leave at 10:30. Yes I know he might still be here in the next few minutes. That doesn't make me any less crazy.

Lots of errands to run with my Dad today. I'm sure he's going to be super excited to go into a Jewel, Carters, Be By Baby, Target....all the day before Thanksgiving, let's see if we can make his head actually explode. Maybe most people have left for the holiday already and so it won't be that bad. Wishful thinking? Probably.

Thanksgiving is tomorrow and while it's my favorite holiday of the year all I can think of is baby and so I keep forgetting that I'll soon be eating some delicious Turkey dinner. So Happy Thanksgiving everyone and think good baby coming thoughts!

editors note: the firewood guy showed up at 9:25 so not late which is good. 

Feeling Good, End Date and Belly Pictures!

So I'm feeling pretty good these days, I mean not good in the sense that I feel the baby is going to come out. But rather that I feel exactly perfect like the baby isn't moving anywhere uncomfortable.

Doctors appointment today went really well. Had an ultrasound and everything looked great, another NST and although Lucy started off sleeping soundly she woke up and passed. I'm still only 1cm dilated though which isn't awesome. I got the go ahead to head to Thanksgiving dinner but just to watch how much salt I eat. IT'S THANKSGIVING. LEAVE ME ALONE. Although....my blood pressure was 118/84 which is the lowest it's been all year. I also dropped some weight so goes to show that I was probably retaining some water. I've been drinking a ton of water this week and really watching the salt so apparently it helps. We asked what is going to happen if Lucy doesn't greet us on her own and we found out that I would be induced on December 7th. So we got that going for us. Anything that happens, the baby will be here in less than 2 weeks. Which is exciting to think about.

Here is what I look like now. A nice normal picture and then me being a little wacky, cause really when you are carrying around a basketball under your shirt you can't help but be a little wacky.

Today is a pretty lazy day for me. We are getting some firewood delivered this afternoon and I'm just reading (currently reading Dracula which is good although been slow going), knitting, doing some things with photos. Tomorrow I have a lot of errands to run which my Dad is going to join me on, and then that's it. My doctor is on call Thursday and Friday so maybe I'll go into labor at Thanksgiving and get to have my doc be there to deliver. I hope so! Maybe enough Turkery will push her right out.

So yes we wait. Lucy COME ON OUT! WE ARE READY TO MEET YOU!

We Are All Ready

Well....with all the stuff. With the being parents part maybe not so much.

Jason and I had just about the best weekend. We had planned on spending all of Saturday walking around the city and enjoying that. But turns out when you don't sleep enough and are 39 weeks pregnant that's not so easy to do. But we did go to Yolk at the River North location for breakfast and if my doctor is reading this, I had the fucking oatmeal ok! No Salt! Even though they have the best egg breakfast in town, I declined. The oatmeal was delicious though, so there's that.

From there we walked to Dearborn and then to Lincoln Park. Along the way we took a belly picture at the same location that we took one at 20-something weeks. It's still living on my camera though so I'll post it tomorrow.

We stopped in Lincoln Park for a short rest and the stopped at starbucks at Wells and North and then as I was sitting in comfy chairs and sleepy we decided to just train home. After getting home I passed out for about 3 hours. Which was *awesome*. We spent the rest of the night doing *nothing* (yes mom, I know I have to finish those thank you cards...tonight for sure!). We watched a lot of football and then watched the first two Indiana Jones movies. Those movies really are the best. I started a few new knitting projects and have been in a knitting craze. I have a project 99.9% completed for the new niece we have arriving next week and I'm thinking I can get this other thing done before she gets here as well. Hence. Maniac. But maniac in a good way. I seem to get crazy about things and then I'll put it down and then get crazy about something else. I'm guessing when Lucy is here the photography will bump back up a bit.

Yesterday I got up at 6 and from that point on didn't stop moving. We had a bunch of things to do around the house including a bit more rearranging of our bedroom to get the portable crib in there so Lucy can be near us for the first few weeks to a month. We cleaned off our back porch and can now put our order of firewood in now that there is somewhere to put it! My Dad and stepmom came over around noon and we watched football and then we hung all of the prints in the baby's room. Even though I was so tired I had a really hard time falling asleep and then spent most of the night fairly uncomfortable. Yay for pregnancy!

So yeah. Done. Done? Maybe? I think we need a *few* more things but other than that we are good to go. I'll take some pictures of the finished baby's room tonight. I know we did way more than you have to do, but it helps my crazy and anything that can calm that down is a good thing.

Tomorrow morning is another appointment with an accompanying ultrasound (high blood pressure is keeping these coming). So I'm guessing we'll get to hear that her head is in the 90whatever percentile and I have too much fluid and blah blah blah. She's been a little moving crazy thing all weekend and so I know she's doing fine. Maybe just anxious to come out?

So here we go. Any day now!

Under the Bench We Sat On

Under the Bench We Sat On, originally uploaded by LeahC.

Needs a New Knitting Project

Yesterday I finished the last of three projects that I had started over the summer. Yes. That's right, over the summer. They shouldn't have taken me so long but I would get into a bad state on all of them and not want to fix any of them and so I would just put them all aside. Then I would pull one out and rip out the bad rows and continue one until I screwed up again and so on. Eventually they all got done with the exception of the baby sweater I was knitting. I ripped that whole thing out but used some of the yarn to make a little baby hat. I just have to get a button for the chin strap and I think it's going to be really cute.

Last night I finished the Christmas stocking I was making for Lucy. I was so proud of myself, it was the first colorwork I had done and I think I had done a pretty good job on it. I knitted her name through it and everything! Then I went to iron it to try and block it out and what's that....oh wait...WHAT BURNED? You can fucking burn things with an iron? Of course I burned right through her name on the white part of the stocking. This whole thing sent me into hysterics which would have been a funny story if those hysterics had sent me into labor, but they didn't and so the story is not funny and is just tragic. Ok, not *tragic* as it's a fucking stocking but it made me sad anyways. Jason tried to scrape the burned parts off the stocking and in the process scraped holes into it. SO I reinforced those parts with just some yarn and a needle, and it really does look a lot better. So Lucy will have the crappy stocking and I'll work on ones for Jason and myself and make them all perfect and it will just be the start of me ruining her life forever. The problem with me and knitting is I hate having mistakes, and I will rip things out if I see that I did a perl instead of a knit so every time I look at that stupid stocking I'm going to throw up a little bit in my mouth.

Anyways.

I also knitted an Ishbel. Which actually came out beautifully and I'm excited for it to get colder, and for me to fit into my black pea coat so that I can wear it. I'm going to take some pictures of these projects today and I'll start a smugmug gallery with all my knittings.

Had a meeting at Obtiva yesterday and have a full plate of things to work on today which is good. Looks like it'll be a nice day today too so maybe go meet up with my Dad for lunch or something as well.

Happy Friday all!

Bright Lights

Bright Lights, originally uploaded by LeahC.

I Know It Means Nothing...

but I say it's something.

Went to the doctor yesterday for our ...let's see 38 week appointment, even though it's closer to 39 weeks than 38 weeks, but what. ever. Now I understand that I'm not even at term yet, but that doesn't mean that I wouldn't like to see some progress in the baby is going to come out at some point. We had another Non-Stress Test I guess because she failed the one before, and perhaps because they have had to keep an eye on my blood pressure throughout the entire pregnancy.

Doctor came in and gave me a lovely little internal exam just because I wanted to see if I was dilated at all. And yay! I am currently 1cm dilated. Now I realized that I could have my water break and still be 1cm dilated, or go another 3 weeks at this state, but I don't care. It means something is happening down there and so an end is in sight. As we get closer to the end I get more and more freaked out. Obviously our lives are going to change forever and I know in a good way, but it's still scary.

I got a little talking to about my lack of drinking water and what I have been eating the past week because I had gained some weight and my blood pressure had gone back up. I realized that I've basicallly not had any water and have eaten like *crap* for the past many many days. And so we are reeling all that in. I have to really really watch my salt intake over the next 2 weeks, and pump up the water drinking. So I did that yesterday and shockingly felt a lot better.

I had a lovely afternoon with my friend Jean after the appointment. We had lunch and then got pedicures and just had a really relaxing time chatting and so on. Jean had a baby boy about 8 weeks ago so always fun to hear what she has to say about the baby growing and so on.

So here we are. Under double digits to go...meaning 9 days to go. At least until the due date. Maybe I should start counting down to a week late, so that if I go before then I'll be all WHEEEEEE. Nah, I'm sticking with the due date. So yeah. 9 days. 

The final month of pregnancy as told through Star Wars, Part III

I'll know Lucy's my daughter if, after a harrowing trip through the birth canal only to arrive in this cold, foreign world, she looks up at me with a wink and a smile and says, "Just like beggar's canyon back home."

Hell yeah!

Still Nothing

Not shocking I know. And I know I'm a broken record with the, "Yeah there is still no baby and no progress towards baby." But I can't help it, I want her here so badly and so every day that nothing happens is killer. As soon as we found out that she had turned head down it's like time stopped moving.

We have another appointment on Wednesday where we will get another NST, and I'm guessing have the doctor tell us that there is no progress down there and so we will continue to wait.

Jason does have a pretty big meeting at work tomorrow, so maybe I'll go into labor right in the middle of that. Also I don't have a bag packed yet, so maybe my water will break, I'll have nothing packed, Jason will be in a meeting and you can see everyone just freak out. Ok, probably won't happen...but you never know. Shit, I should probably pack a bag as that would be a bad thing to not have ready to go.

This weekend we finished up getting everything put together, purchased and the only thing left to do is get some art prints for the baby's room framed. They are in at the frame shop and we are just waiting for the frames to come in. I'll take some pictures when it's totally done. I know that I'm going into overkill mode as a lot of this shit isn't necessary to have a baby come home but I like to be overly prepared, it calms me down a little bit.

So yes. We are still waiting. 12 days out from the due date.

The final month of pregnancy as told through Star Wars, Part II

I don't know who you are or where you've come from, but from now on you'll do as I say, okay?


Yeah, Lucy! That's right. Once you're out of that womb, you're on my time and you'll do as I say! Daaaaaaamn straight.

Wait, no. Stop. Wait, don't cry. Stop. Stop crying. Shit.

Fine, I take it all back. Want a cookie?

The final month of pregnancy as told through Star Wars

And so, with just over two weeks to go before Lucy is due, we turn to the Great Bard. Through his immortal words, we tell the story of Lucy's final days in utero.
"Just for once... let me... look on you with my OWN eyes"

Soon enough, Lu. Soon enough.

Remember When I Slept?

Oh and I was soooooo cocky. I can't believe I'm getting 9 hours of uninterrupted sleep, I'm like the best pregnant lady ever. Yeah. Well that's all gone down the shit hole. Still not as bad as it could be I'm guessing and not as bad as it will be in a few weeks that's for damn sure. But our bed has gotten very uncomfortable and Jason won't believe me.

I woke up at 2:30 to pee and then flopped around for like an hour because I couldn't get comfortable, Then when I got up at 6 my back was in a world of uncomfy.

We got this really comfortable bed about 18 months ago and when we got it, it was like magic. Now it seems that it's all sunken in in the middle and I'm frustrated because it wasn't cheap at all. We have a warrenty on it and I have half a mind to go in there and be like, well I used to like it AND NOW IT SUCKS. Jason still thinks it's awesome though so maybe it's just the pregnancy, which isn't totally unreasonable.

I think I way way over did it on Tuesday because I totally felt like poop yesterday. I was so exhausted in the morning (after a pretty good night's sleep) and fell on to my couch and fell asleep. I'm frustrated, but on the other hand that's exactly why I wanted to work at home part time. Some days I know I'm not going to be able to dictate to my body what I want it to do and so being home is a great thing.

Today I'm going to spend most of the day working at a coffee shop/library/other coffee shops. Just going to try and get out and about a little bit more today. Hopefully the crappy nights sleep doesn't effect that plan too much.

17

Maybe I'll just title each post from now on with how many days until the baby comes. But that's dumb cause what if she comes two weeks late, then instead of 17 days to go it's going to be more like 31 days to go and that thought makes me want to vomit a little bit. Although, I guess 31 days is probably the most that it could be....so there's that.

I fear that my fingers are starting to swell up as my wedding rings aren't as comfortable as they usually are. And by that I mean when I can finally slide them off, there is a nice little dent going around my finger. I feel naked without my rings on though and so I don't want to take them off so we'll see how long I can make it. It's not that bad....yet.

We had a great evening last night with my Dad and stepmom coming over for dinner and some Dead Space game playing. Before that I made my Dad go for a walk with me. Did about 3 miles and I think I'm still walking at a pretty good pace. Holy hell do I miss running though. I talked a lot about training for the marathon and I think my Dad was very, "Yeah Yeah Yeah....stop talking about running" Ok, but if I stop talking about running I'm going to start talking about the baby's head in the 93rd percentile and you've already heard that a time or two...or a thousand.

Today going to do my usual work in the mornings and baby prep things in the afternoon. My Dad took all of the prints we found for the baby's room into a frame shop yesterday and we are going to make some of the frames. So if they can get the wood cut I'll go with him to do that this afternoon.

This weekend Jason and I are going to go get all the final things that we need for the baby. There are just a few more things that have to get done for me to feel like we are really ready, then we can really play the waiting game.

Last night she was *crazy* I am so active during the day that I don't feel her as much, so last night I layed down in bed and all of a sudden it was like a monster in my belly. It was hilarious. I put my Kindle down on my stomach and it almost flew off. Can't wait to see those kicks and rolls in the world!

So yeah. 17. or 31. Whatever.

And The Weight Lifts

...and not in the way that I don't have a giant belly anymore as Lucy is still all comfy cozy inside, but rather that everything is fine with our little chubby cheeked little girl and now we just play the waiting game. 

Yesterday we had our 37 week appointment and had to do another Non-Stress Test. I have been so clenched since last week's failing NST and so was worried about the appointment. We were in the waiting room and Lucy was going crazy and I was thinking, oh perfect she's going to move now and then she's going to sleep again for the test. However we got into the room and got all my vitals down. I dropped a pound and my blood pressure was again lower! It was 128/80 which is damn close to normal! So that was good. Then they got the sensors on me, I had some juice and then we started the test. And what do you know, Lucy did a little dance. And by little dance I mean crazy town. Which was nice. The doctor showed us the difference between last week's graph and today's and now I understand why they sent us to triage given that there was basically a flat line last week.

We also talked about the fluid levels that I was so worried about and the doctor we saw yesterday wasn't worried about it at all and said we didn't need another ultrasound. I asked for some numbers even if I didn't really know what they meant. She said we were at 21 and that she starts to maybe get worried if that number gets to 24. She wasn't worried about it at all and since I'm not having any kinds of contractions it doesn't look like a problem at all.

I just feel so so so much better. But I have that feeling after a big presentation or test or something when you are just drained. I think worry takes a lot out of a person.

So now we wait. They did an internal exam and there is no dialating yet, but that's to be expected I think since I'm only just past 37 weeks. So right. Now we wait. I know after being all excited about knowing the exact date and time that she's coming, she's going to end up being late. As long as she's healthy I don't care, I just want to meet her already!

Yay Jason!

Last week Jason talked to his boss about the unfairness of his review since he didn't get a raise for no good reason. His boss talked to his boss and they came back with a 6% raise as well as an end date for the current project he is on and an actual new position in the analytics department that he'll be moving to. So yay! and a big congratulations to him.

Yesterday I did my 1/2 day of work and then my friend Jean and her 6 week old little one Ethan came to visit. We had some lunch and then we went for a walk over by the lake front path. It was a great time, even if Ethan got a little cranky for about 15 minutes.  A new diaper, some foods and some walking with mom calmed him down and knocked him right out. Jean also left me some baby knitting books that I'm going to get some patterns from. I ripped out the sweater that I was making and so I need a new baby project. I'm about done with this Ishbel scarf thing, and then I have to finish this stocking that I was making for Lucy for Christmas. But I like have 3 projects going at once because inevitabley I'm going to screw one up and thus need to put it down for a bit. The bad thing is that then I end up with 3 screwed up projects and I don't remember why they are screwed up. Anyways. Yes. new baby knitting project.

I'm considered full term today which is very exciting. So any day now Lucy. Any. Day. Our appointment next Tuesday morning got moved to Monday morning because of the NST failure I guess. I don't really know, but apparently it's so important that we come in a day earlier that now we won't see our primary care doctor this week. So that's a bit annoying. Not that all the doctors aren't good, it's just frustrating because it's easier to just always have to deal with the same person. I'm guessing I'll be going to triage again or at least I'm just going to plan it because then when it does happen I won't be so stressed out. Tip from my friend Lydia which I think is a good one.

So Happy Friday all. Jason is going to Bloomington tomorrow for the IU/Wisconsin football game with his good friend. I am not at all jealous about that trip. All I know is that I'm going to have a super good time in Chicago, so there. My only instructions are that I don't go into labor, although I do think it would be funny to call Jason in Bloomington after he's had many beers and be like...actually you need to get home, baby is coming. The freak out would be legendary.

Looks Like Silent Hill

Looks Like Silent Hill, originally uploaded by LeahC.

Always A Little On the High Side

Seriously. I'm going to start to really panic. First it was my blood pressure. It's not high, but it's not normal either, it's just on the high side of normal. Then when the measure the baby on the ultrasounds she's never crazy big, but just a week or two ahead of where she should be (except for her head...wowza!). Then apparently the fluid levels surrounding here aren't too high...they are just on the high side of normal.

GRRRR.

The doctor yesterday said that she wasn't losing sleep over the fluid levels, but it's something she has to keep an eye on because while they don't see any structural problems on the ultrasound it could mean that she doesn't know how to swallow. Awesome. Glad you aren't losing sleep over it doc I'll make sure to rest easy now. And of course if you google that only bad things come up. Ok well not really, but still. So now I have to have yet another ultrasound at 38 weeks. I'm so sick of getting these. Yeah they were really cool the first few times around but now I'm like, yeah, that's her with her chubby chubby cheeks. I just want her to be here so I don't really care about the pictures. We did find out that her head is in the 93rd percentile, yeah that's right she's got a big brain! And her legs were in the 90something percentile. Both Jason and I are really tall and I, along with most of my family, has a big head atop our shoulders so it makes sense. Pushing out a head in the 93rd percentile makes less sense, but I'm sure I'll be fine.

Yesterday I also had to do a Non-Stress Test for the first time. I had no idea I was going to have to do it. As soon as they put the sensors on me, Lucy went straight to sleep. Well apparently the non-movement of the baby was much more of a concern to the doctor than the fluid levels and so she sent me to the triage to have them do some prolonged monitoring. I was a little mean to the nurse because I really thought the NST was bogus in the office and I didn't want to be there. So they hooked me up to monitors and left Jason and I in a teeny room for about an hour. They gave me some ginger ale and Lucy perked up enough for them to send me home. So that was a "fun" little experience. I guess they are going to do these NSTs every week now, and I'm guessing every time she isn't going to move and so I'm going to get to know triage really well.

The only thing that isn't on the high side of normal right now is the positiong of Lucy's head. Sometime in the last two weeks she has managed to turn herself around and so she's head down like she's supposed to be. So no more worries about a planned c-section for right now. I'm hoping she stays that way, I mean with all the fluid that she has to float around in in there who knows what she's going to do.

Shitty shitty night's sleep last night. Crazy dreams and then I woke up to pee at around 1:30 and the dog upstairs would. not. shut. the. fuck. up. I'm sorry. I'm not a dog person, but seriously what is going on up there that you are just letting your dog bark and bark and bark. I think they were home because I could hear them talking...but maybe that was after the barking. Then I think they were having the dog run up and down the fucking hallway plus more barking....maybe...I don't know, but I do know it was *really* annoying. I'm happy Jason was able to sleep through it because he had to get up at 4am this morning to do some contractor work.

Going to do some work this morning and then my friend Jean and her baby Ethan are coming over to visit around lunchtime, which is going to be a great time.

So now we wait until Tuesday at 10am to see what is happening with the baby. This last month is *very* frustrating!

Feeling Overwhelmed

You know that feeling. You have your to do list. And it's long...or at least it seems really long. And so you think, well I could that...or that ... or maybe that item. But instead I'm seeing that there is a Law and Order SVU marathon on so I'll just watch some of that while I figure out where to start. Of course if you just do one thing on the list, you're pretty motivated to do another and eventually you are done or at least feeling like you've accomplished something.

That's where I am right now with the baby coming in about 2.5 weeks. If she came right now..honestly we would be fine. But I want to be a little bit more ready and so there are things that have to be done.

Today is our 36 week appointment. We have an ultrasound scheduled at 3pm (yes...this will be the 5th one...I'm over it) and then we meet with the doctor at 3:45. Like Jason said, we think she might be sitting a little lower (I mean did have to get up twice last night to pee compared to my usual dead to the world sleep for 9 hours that I've been enjoying!) but I don't think she has turned around. I wonder if this would make it harder for them to manually turn her. That's why we are getting another ultrasound, to check and see exactly what is going on in there so that we can have a reasonable estimate for the probability of externally turning her to work out. I thought that we would have a definite feeling of what we should do by this point given that we have had 4 weeks to think about it, but we don't really know. I think that this situation is making the whole baby thing more overwhelming.

ANYWAYS. Don't say overwhelm.

My Dad has been away visiting his sister and his dad for about a week and a half and comes home tomorrow and I'm looking forward to him being back. It's funny, he was gone for 4 years and I only saw him once or twice a year for a few weeks and now that he's been around and we have seen him almost every day, it's like...wait, I haven't seen you in forever! With him back it will help too as now that I'm working part time we can work on getting the baby's room finished in the afternoons.

So that's it. Working part time has been *wonderful*. I do my work stuff in the mornings and have the afternoons off to relax and enjoy myself. So here's to Wednesday!

Black, White & Blue

Black, White & Blue, originally uploaded by LeahC.

Getting lower (but still head up)

(I think)

Looking over at Leah as she was getting ready to go for our nightly walk (she had her stretchy pants pulled up somewhere around her armpits), I noticed something different. She was clearly still pregnant (no doubt), but it was just...different.

Her tummy bulge was pointing more...south. Hey! I think the baby dropped! Of course, as of yesterday we were still able the feel the baby's head sticking straight up, but her ass seems to have nestled gently in between Leah's hips. Which is cool, because it's a nice little sign that things are progressing.

Actually, now that I think about it, how is the baby going to turn if she's really dropped. Isn't it going to be about impossible for her to get a leg down at this point to hike herself around? And if her center of gravity is now somewhere around Leah's belly button, Lucy can't really tip forward to flip over either, right? I mean, maybe she can, but it just doesn't seem possible.

Maybe it's just me (and I'll admit that I'm no medical expert), but I see our little weeble-wobble wobbling but not falling down. I guess we'll find out over the next three weeks.

Love that sky

Love that sky, originally uploaded by LeahC.

Lactation Consulting!

My stepmom's sister is a lactation consultant and so I asked her if she would give us her class instead of us taking the one at the hospital. She being the awesome Cindy she is agreed and today was the day we learned about BOOBS (hee hee I said boobs) and breastfeeding and different positions you can put the baby in and lots of other good information. A lot of information. An overwhelming amount of information. But it was so awesome to be able to have a family member give us all that information and take out her Sunday afternoon to talk to us about it. Hopefully Lucy is a good latcher on-er and we don't run into too many problems with breast feeding. I'm really hoping to breast feed for the first 6 months and then go from there.

Yesterday being Halloween we had some friends over and watched some scary movies and had a great time. These are friends we haven't seen since New Years Eve...seriously they live about 4 miles from us! Lots of screeching during Drag Me to Hell and then we watched Halloween, a classic and one of my favorite movies of all time.

Today is November 1st...and there is this whole NaBloPloMo deal. Given that this is the last month that we await for Lucy to arrive, we are going to give it a try. I know I know, you've gotten so used to us posting like once every two weeks that this will be quite a shock to your system. We hope it to be funny as in 3 weeks from tomorrow (assuming that she doesn't turn around) we'll have some little thing that we are responsible for. That's 21 days. 15 business days. Wait...what do you mean? Who the hell let us have kids? We aren't responsible or old enough. I mean seriously....let's talk about Halloween candy and how much I had this weekend. Hello SPREES! I love you!

So stay tuned, and well, let the countdown begin