According to my physical therapist, I have the hips of 'an old man'. This is a bit of a problem in general, but I think it will be an even bigger problem when I'm trying to squeeze out that baby. So I didn't argue one bit when I was told last week I should try to get a massage ASAP.
I had a massage on Saturday. It turns out this past week (the week before my due date) has been hard on my muscles - I think my joints are loosening but the muscles haven't caught on yet and are pulling everything every which way.
Well, the massage was great. I really enjoyed it, stumbled to my car afterwards in a post-massage daze, and then went home and spaced out for most of the afternoon. Unfortunately I woke up sore this morning, so it may have been a little too much. I have another massage scheduled for tomorrow, and I can't wait. This is definitely making my past due-date blues better. Although, I am secretly hoping the baby holds out until then so I can enjoy this next massage... can you hold your labor off just by sheer will? The Studly Hubby might be mad at me if I do, he's getting awfully excited. This morning he told me I was hogging the baby, and then made a big batch of cookies to see if it would entice the baby to come out. It didn't, but I sure enjoyed them!!
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Due today!
I've done it - I made it to the due date! And still going... the baby continues to express no interest in coming out. As usual she is squirming all around, especially after dinner, and seems quite content. The doctor told us last week that they will let me go 2 weeks after the due date and then they will induce. I predict this baby will go all the way. But, at least we know that the end is near.
Everything in the nursery is all ready to go - the cloth diapers are stacked by the changing table (delivered last week by a local service - they do pick up/delivery every week), and we practiced on a bear to make sure we knew what we were doing (cloth diapers are complicated - well not really, but we were afraid they might be).
Today we finished getting ready - I organized the baby's closet, the Studly Hubby cleaned the whole house (HE is definitely nesting!), and I finished some critical things at work, and then we relaxed. It was a beautiful sunny day in Seattle and things are pretty calm around here.
And we are all packed and ready to go!
Now we are just waiting and watching the belly.
Everything in the nursery is all ready to go - the cloth diapers are stacked by the changing table (delivered last week by a local service - they do pick up/delivery every week), and we practiced on a bear to make sure we knew what we were doing (cloth diapers are complicated - well not really, but we were afraid they might be).
Today we finished getting ready - I organized the baby's closet, the Studly Hubby cleaned the whole house (HE is definitely nesting!), and I finished some critical things at work, and then we relaxed. It was a beautiful sunny day in Seattle and things are pretty calm around here.
And we are all packed and ready to go!
Now we are just waiting and watching the belly.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
When is your last day??
With 7 days left, I have had a lot of people ask me when I'm going to stop working. The answer is:
NEVER!!
I'm a workaholic!
Well, I guess I'll take some time off when the baby comes out (a friend called her 'Little Chaos' the other day - that's my favorite nickname so far). Actually I feel totally fine and work in the same building where I'm planning to deliver, so with blessings from my doctor and my mom and my Studly Hubby I decided to just keep going as usual. Time will pass faster that way anyway, plus then I will be productive! The co-workers got a little nervous about this. They were afraid I might pop out a baby in the middle of the lab floor and/or forget to finish some really important experiment (which can turn into an awful stinky mess, either way) - so we assigned a particularly helpful co-worker to keep her eye on me - she's going to walk me to the hospital, call the Studly Hubby, help us go get the car, help clean up my unfinished experiments, etc. This is very nice of her, but hopefully it won't be as bad of a scene as everyone fears. Just in case it is, we also got the phone number of the hospital wheelchair service (ugh).
It's hard not knowing when you might leave! My annoying baby yoga teacher says one of the beautiful things about birth is that it's so unpredictable, but I completely disagree. That is one of the annoying things about birth, although not as annoying as her. I was too chicken to tell her that though.
NEVER!!
I'm a workaholic!
Well, I guess I'll take some time off when the baby comes out (a friend called her 'Little Chaos' the other day - that's my favorite nickname so far). Actually I feel totally fine and work in the same building where I'm planning to deliver, so with blessings from my doctor and my mom and my Studly Hubby I decided to just keep going as usual. Time will pass faster that way anyway, plus then I will be productive! The co-workers got a little nervous about this. They were afraid I might pop out a baby in the middle of the lab floor and/or forget to finish some really important experiment (which can turn into an awful stinky mess, either way) - so we assigned a particularly helpful co-worker to keep her eye on me - she's going to walk me to the hospital, call the Studly Hubby, help us go get the car, help clean up my unfinished experiments, etc. This is very nice of her, but hopefully it won't be as bad of a scene as everyone fears. Just in case it is, we also got the phone number of the hospital wheelchair service (ugh).
It's hard not knowing when you might leave! My annoying baby yoga teacher says one of the beautiful things about birth is that it's so unpredictable, but I completely disagree. That is one of the annoying things about birth, although not as annoying as her. I was too chicken to tell her that though.
New Mower!
I always wanted an old-fashioned reel mower. In any big city, all the cool people have reel mowers (it is friendly to the environment AND your neighbors) and to me it seems like you have reached some sort of life milestone when you finally own a mower.
So you can understand how excited I was when we bought a mower today!
The Studly Hubby spotted it when he was out running this morning. It was on somebody's front lawn with a 'for sale' sign, and when we called about it the guy had about 20 reel mowers for sale in his garage. I'm curious where they all came from (probably an auction?) and why this guy is so into mowers (he was REALLY into mowers), but he gave us a lesson in reel mower maintenance and spent some time showing off all the bells and whistles on his various models for us. Also, strangely, he had no yard of his own to speak of so to try out a couple of mowers we had to cross the street and mow the lawn of the church next door - I wonder how weird that must have looked to an unknowing passer-by.
When we came home we showed off our new mower to all our neighbors who were really jealous of us especially their kids who wanted to try it out and understand how it works. I don't blame them, reel mowers are so cool.
So you can understand how excited I was when we bought a mower today!
The Studly Hubby spotted it when he was out running this morning. It was on somebody's front lawn with a 'for sale' sign, and when we called about it the guy had about 20 reel mowers for sale in his garage. I'm curious where they all came from (probably an auction?) and why this guy is so into mowers (he was REALLY into mowers), but he gave us a lesson in reel mower maintenance and spent some time showing off all the bells and whistles on his various models for us. Also, strangely, he had no yard of his own to speak of so to try out a couple of mowers we had to cross the street and mow the lawn of the church next door - I wonder how weird that must have looked to an unknowing passer-by.
When we came home we showed off our new mower to all our neighbors who were really jealous of us especially their kids who wanted to try it out and understand how it works. I don't blame them, reel mowers are so cool.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Hash Browns!!
The Studly Hubby has a BIG LOVE for hashbrowns. Every chance he gets he grates a bunch of potatoes up and fries them in a pan with a carefully calculated strategy and then analyzes and refines the results for next time.
This morning the Studly Hubby was grating up a bunch of freshly received veggie box Russet potatoes when I realized this is turning into a LifeLong Quest for the Perfect Hashbrowns. In fact, I was thinking maybe what we should do is go on a world-wide mission to find the Perfect Hashbrowns. As we were discussing this, we realized that we have had very few Perfect Hashbrowns in our lives. Worse, we don't even really know where to go for Perfect Hashbrowns. Which part of the world? Which restaurants?
In our past we could think of only one place that had nearly Perfect Hashbrowns, French Meadows in Minneapolis, but unfortunately they only made these for a short time and then switched chefs or recipes or something because they weren't good after that. The Studly Hubby also claimed someplace in the Homeland of Iowa also made Perfect Hashbrowns but that was also short-lived and he doesn't even remember the name of the place now.
I would say that McDonald's hashbrowns are nearly Perfect Hashbrowns but the Studly Hubby shut that down pretty fast.
Have you ever had Perfect Hashbrowns? Do tell!
The 30 year quilt
My dad is craftier than you might think.
He's sewing a quilt!!
This is picture my dad took of all the pieces put together. He's a lot more than halfway done now, which is good because he's been working on it since I was born. He's going for a 'earth-wind-fire-water' theme with a classic bowtie pattern (this is what he told me, it sounds like he knows what he's doing doesn't it?). The quilt started as a large project to fit on a double bed for his daughter (me) and has turned into a more reasonable sized project to fit on a crib for his grand-daughter (my baby). I think he'll actually get it done now because 1) he has a whole new deadline that he's really excited about (his grand-daughter is on her way!), 2) he blogged about it, and 3) he's worked out a reasonable timeline and reasonable amount to do. Hopefully his wife doesn't nix the project after 2 months of solid weekends! I'd really like to see the final product...
He's sewing a quilt!!
This is picture my dad took of all the pieces put together. He's a lot more than halfway done now, which is good because he's been working on it since I was born. He's going for a 'earth-wind-fire-water' theme with a classic bowtie pattern (this is what he told me, it sounds like he knows what he's doing doesn't it?). The quilt started as a large project to fit on a double bed for his daughter (me) and has turned into a more reasonable sized project to fit on a crib for his grand-daughter (my baby). I think he'll actually get it done now because 1) he has a whole new deadline that he's really excited about (his grand-daughter is on her way!), 2) he blogged about it, and 3) he's worked out a reasonable timeline and reasonable amount to do. Hopefully his wife doesn't nix the project after 2 months of solid weekends! I'd really like to see the final product...
Monday, February 15, 2010
Doula
I hired a doula, which is a labor coach, to help me get through labor. The doula we hired has a lot of experience and sometimes mentors apprentices, so we encouraged her to do that and decided the apprentice could be my Studly Hubby's own personal doula, and he might need one because who knows how stressful this will be for him. Traditionally a doula hangs out with a woman during most of her labor and does whatever is needed, including helping with different labor positions and communication with the doctors. The doula will meet with you a few times before to help you figure out what you want (and write a 'birth plan') and then a few times after to make sure you and the baby are bonding and such as you should be.
So on Saturday the doula and her apprentice came by and we went over the final birth plan. I never even knew what a birth plan was until I got into this mess, and now look at me! Our birth plan is in its third draft and includes phrases I had never even heard of 9 months ago. Plus she gave us a list of things we MUST HAVE when the baby arrives (like diaper wipes) and we spent a big gob of money afterwards ordering things from various places to get stocked up.
We are in the final stretch - the cloth diaper service made their first delivery this morning, the changing table is all set up, the sheets are on the crib, the carseat is installed, and the Studly Hubby is keeping his phone on all the time. Here comes Baby!!
So on Saturday the doula and her apprentice came by and we went over the final birth plan. I never even knew what a birth plan was until I got into this mess, and now look at me! Our birth plan is in its third draft and includes phrases I had never even heard of 9 months ago. Plus she gave us a list of things we MUST HAVE when the baby arrives (like diaper wipes) and we spent a big gob of money afterwards ordering things from various places to get stocked up.
We are in the final stretch - the cloth diaper service made their first delivery this morning, the changing table is all set up, the sheets are on the crib, the carseat is installed, and the Studly Hubby is keeping his phone on all the time. Here comes Baby!!
I hate Baby Yoga
I really hate baby yoga.
I started going after someone in my regular yoga class recommended it (she said it helps you bond with your baby, but she was wrong). I hated it the first time but went back and somehow fell into a pattern where I kept going and kept hating it.
The main reason why I hate it is because the teacher really loves squatting and deep breathing. I hate both squatting and deep breathing and really really hate doing them together - I hate them so much I even put it in my birth plan, NO SQUATTING OR DEEP BREATHING.
Here is my teacher squatting and deep breathing, which I believe is her favorite thing in the whole wide world. I think she's convinced that we can all reach a higher existence this way. But my 'old man hips' (direct quote from my physical therapist) do not react kindly to squatting and deep breathing makes me hyperventilate, so I don't reach any higher existence this way - I just get dizzy and sore.
Another reason why I hate it is because the teacher keeps saying really annoying things like "the beautiful thing about birth is the unpredictability of it" and "we often get what we project so we need to think positively about birth." Then after she says something annoying like that she will make us squat and breath deeply while we think about it.
I guess there have been some good things about baby yoga too. We check in at the beginning of class every week and offer each other helpful advice. We practiced a lot of the labor positions they taught us in birth class, like leaning on a ball and putting a leg up on a chair and every variation of squatting and deep breathing you could ever think of. And we stretch out all the parts that pregnant ladies especially use like ankles and calves and hips, which are always glad to get stretched. I guess that's why I keep going. But tonight, with two weeks left until my due date, I was happy to think of how few classes I may have left, maybe even NONE, and it really cheered me up.
I started going after someone in my regular yoga class recommended it (she said it helps you bond with your baby, but she was wrong). I hated it the first time but went back and somehow fell into a pattern where I kept going and kept hating it.
The main reason why I hate it is because the teacher really loves squatting and deep breathing. I hate both squatting and deep breathing and really really hate doing them together - I hate them so much I even put it in my birth plan, NO SQUATTING OR DEEP BREATHING.
Here is my teacher squatting and deep breathing, which I believe is her favorite thing in the whole wide world. I think she's convinced that we can all reach a higher existence this way. But my 'old man hips' (direct quote from my physical therapist) do not react kindly to squatting and deep breathing makes me hyperventilate, so I don't reach any higher existence this way - I just get dizzy and sore.Another reason why I hate it is because the teacher keeps saying really annoying things like "the beautiful thing about birth is the unpredictability of it" and "we often get what we project so we need to think positively about birth." Then after she says something annoying like that she will make us squat and breath deeply while we think about it.
I guess there have been some good things about baby yoga too. We check in at the beginning of class every week and offer each other helpful advice. We practiced a lot of the labor positions they taught us in birth class, like leaning on a ball and putting a leg up on a chair and every variation of squatting and deep breathing you could ever think of. And we stretch out all the parts that pregnant ladies especially use like ankles and calves and hips, which are always glad to get stretched. I guess that's why I keep going. But tonight, with two weeks left until my due date, I was happy to think of how few classes I may have left, maybe even NONE, and it really cheered me up.
37 Weeks
This time the Studly Hubby turned the picture into a Deep Zoom Mosaic using all the previous photos we've taken until now (image was made in Andrea Mosaic and the zoom function was added by the Studly Hubby himself so you can actually see each individual picture on our website).
Neat huh?
Note that the baby has dropped a little bit from the previous picture (below), at 34 weeks. Thank goodness too! She was really squishing my lungs and stomach and interfering with my life-long slouching habit.
,
Neat huh?
Note that the baby has dropped a little bit from the previous picture (below), at 34 weeks. Thank goodness too! She was really squishing my lungs and stomach and interfering with my life-long slouching habit.
,
The Big Cooking Adventure
We are tackling the last things on our endless to-do list - ordering the diaper wipes, meeting with the Doula, attempting once again to find childcare, charging batteries for all the baby-toys, etc.
One of the big things on our to-do list was to cook some food and freeze it for later. The Studly Hubby decided to do it all at once on Sunday and he decided it would be best to cook enough food for 50 people for 3 months. He made enchiladas, hot and sour soup, chile with cornbread, and shrimp and potatoes (and then a pizza for dinner). He doubled or quadrupled the recipes. Then he froze everything down in individual portions and completely filled up our freezer.
Our kitchen was completely destroyed in the process. I tried to capture it on camera but couldn't really do it justice.
The dishwasher, stove, all the counters and the table were all covered with dirty dishes or recipes. I think he used every pan and utensil and bowl we own. At the end of it he was completely worn out and required Emergency Cupcakes from Trophy Cupcakes just to make it to bedtime (they had special Valentine's Day rasberry chocolate ones, yum!). I suggested we have some of the Stockpile this week so he could catch a break but he insisted we save it all for later (because we might run out otherwise? not possible). We will be running the dishwasher over and over again this week to try to get it all cleaned up.
One of the big things on our to-do list was to cook some food and freeze it for later. The Studly Hubby decided to do it all at once on Sunday and he decided it would be best to cook enough food for 50 people for 3 months. He made enchiladas, hot and sour soup, chile with cornbread, and shrimp and potatoes (and then a pizza for dinner). He doubled or quadrupled the recipes. Then he froze everything down in individual portions and completely filled up our freezer.
Our kitchen was completely destroyed in the process. I tried to capture it on camera but couldn't really do it justice.
The dishwasher, stove, all the counters and the table were all covered with dirty dishes or recipes. I think he used every pan and utensil and bowl we own. At the end of it he was completely worn out and required Emergency Cupcakes from Trophy Cupcakes just to make it to bedtime (they had special Valentine's Day rasberry chocolate ones, yum!). I suggested we have some of the Stockpile this week so he could catch a break but he insisted we save it all for later (because we might run out otherwise? not possible). We will be running the dishwasher over and over again this week to try to get it all cleaned up.
Saturday, February 06, 2010
Baby bump pictures!!
Two weeks ago we had a photographer come out to take pictures of my baby bump. When I scheduled it (5 months ago) it was a bit of a risk, but I've seen a few really spectacular baby bump pictures so I thought it would be worth the risk.
It turned out, it was a really good idea - not only did we pick a great photographer, but the baby (bump) is behaving itself spectacularly and is as cute as can be, if I do say so myself. I got some mysteriously great pregnancy genes for this from somewhere... thanks, whoever you are...
So here they are, some of the baby bump pics from the photographer's blog. (check out her website if you want to see some other cute baby and baby bump pictures - she also does weddings but I think she really works her magic with the babies).
I have to say after looking at these pictures I almost feel like I'm going to miss the baby bump a little bit - although I'm sure the baby will be a whole new kind of fun - and a whole new set of pictures!!
3 weeks to go!
It turned out, it was a really good idea - not only did we pick a great photographer, but the baby (bump) is behaving itself spectacularly and is as cute as can be, if I do say so myself. I got some mysteriously great pregnancy genes for this from somewhere... thanks, whoever you are...
So here they are, some of the baby bump pics from the photographer's blog. (check out her website if you want to see some other cute baby and baby bump pictures - she also does weddings but I think she really works her magic with the babies).
I have to say after looking at these pictures I almost feel like I'm going to miss the baby bump a little bit - although I'm sure the baby will be a whole new kind of fun - and a whole new set of pictures!!
3 weeks to go!
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