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February 14, 2004
Week 39: Winding Down
I wrote an entry for week 38 and posted it on Sunday. It covers my midwives' home visit, if you missed it.
After all the rushing around and craziness of the previous week, my 39th week was a breeze in comparison. I went into work Monday morning, all day Wednesday, and part of Thursday afternoon. The partial days I drove downtown and parked at a meter within a block of my building, which balanced my desire to get in and out quickly without paying painful downtown ramp prices. Workers came for the kitchen every day but Thursday, which was also very encouraging. After weeks of wondering how we would pull everything together, I finally felt like if the baby came, it would all be okay.
Mom Comes to Save the Day
Sunday afternoon, my mom came over and brought a spurt of energy we desperately needed. She went to work washing our dishes (three weeks’ worth) in the laundry tub while I did the laundry and Dan dusted everything in our dining and living rooms. We had remarkably few dishes to wash, thanks to lots of paper and plastic dinnerware and eating out whenever possible. After throwing clothes in the washer, I dried dishes and brought them up to the kitchen. Before too long, the dishes were done, some clothes were in the dryer, and Dan had cleared every surface in the dining room to remove the dust covering everything. Mom and I went to work rearranging the kitchen. We decided to ignore the fact that one cabinet wasn’t yet fastened down and to put pots in it anyway. Soon all the dishes and cookware had found homes in the new cabinets (most had been done already). Once those were taken care of, Mom took our old microwave out to her car so my sister can have it. That allowed us to start moving all the food that was on shelves behind the microwave into the new over-the-stove cabinets. We were able to take the crockpot, blender, and other small appliances from our stairway shelves and put those in the kitchen (Imagine--small appliances in the kitchen and not the basement!) above the fridge. We have somewhat goofy cabinets above our back door and those became the new home for our vases and candles. That freed up the hutch in our dining room for the games and camera equipment that I’ve been storing in the back of our bedroom closet—not exactly the most accessible location. Meanwhile, Dan has swept and vacuumed the hardwood floors in the dining and living rooms and dusted everything in sight. Mom took the plants down to the laundry room and washed them, so they no longer seem pathetically ignored. We put all the construction equipment on our small kitchen table, which still sits in the dining room. The small appliances and dishwashing things take up half the dining room table, but there are no longer piles of boxes above and below it. We can eat at our table again! Good thing it’s just the two of us since there isn’t much more room than that yet. Throughout all of this, I was bringing clothes up and down, including the smallest size of baby clothes. I washed our afghans, mattress protector, the towels, the sheets, the baby blankets, sleepers, onesies, and t-shirts. Everything was clean. It was probably ten or twelve loads of laundry over the course of the day, and that didn’t include the diapers I’d washed the previous weekend.
So, after five hours of cleaning and rearranging, the house feels like it’s ours again. Sure, the sink isn’t quite usable and the stove still sticks out from the wall. But we’re no longer living in a dusty war zone. I wanted to be ready for the baby by the first of February, and didn’t quite make that timeline, but at the 38 week mark, it no longer feels like it would be a disaster to go into labor. Phew.
Prenatal
Monday over the lunch hour, I had my prenatal. It feels good now to see them every week—there’s enough going on and questions to have answered that the time always flies by. I drove there from work, and Dan met me there. I was surprised to see that I’d lost 3 pounds from the previous week, bringing me back to what I’d weighed three weeks before. There were fancier new pee sticks to try with five different markers—I didn’t check to see what they were, but just noted that protein, glucose, and the rest were all normal. My blood pressure was up slightly to 104/70. I’m not sure how much that could have been affected by my rushing around in the morning to get everything I needed at work. My fundus was 38 to 39 cm—exactly on target. After flipping around over the weekend, the baby was back into LOA position. If only he/she would stay there! His/her heart rate was steady at 132-144. I’ve only had a couple appointments where the heart rate wasn’t right around there. With the baby’s chest away from the placenta, it was easy to hear beats in the fetoscope—no more straining to feel those beats! We talked about how happy we were with the back-up doctor, and told them what we’d decided about Kara being the public relations person during my labor. We discussed when we should call them and heard more about what to expect so far as their involvement in the delivery. I asked them if they would recommend arnica to help slow postpartum bleeding, as suggested by our Bradley instructor. To my surprise, Kim whipped out a tube of arnica and had me take one. It’s a homeopathic remedy, which I have no experience with. She suggested getting the 200c strength at the store where we got our herbs. It was clear that she uses a variety of homeopathic remedies herself, but I appreciated knowing that she didn’t suggest them until we asked. She also recommended taking alfalfa pellets to up my vitamin K because we don’t plan to give that shot at the birth unless I have a particularly traumatic delivery.
Walking Time Bomb
This week, I began getting the feeling that everyone expects me to blow at any minute. We arrived at church on Sunday later than usual and everyone around us said that they thought we weren’t coming because I’d gone into labor. When I showed up at church class on Tuesday, people all wished me well and sent me off not expecting to see me again. People aren’t calling more than usual, but everyone starts the conversation by asking if there’s any baby news. Sorry folks, but no, this kid is quite comfy in here and is showing no signs of moving out any time soon! I’m fine with that, but nobody else seems to be. A few weeks back, I’d mentioned to a friend that I was going to stop answering the phone if people began getting crazy near my due date—she has then proceeded to begin every phone call by asking if the baby is here. Augh!! I told you it WASN’T funny!! (Cheryl, if you’re reading this, YES, I’m talking about you!) I still don’t tell people my exact due date, but I guess since we’re remotely near the end of my pregnancy, people are getting antsy. The fact that my belly sticks out to there sort of gives me away. When asked, I tell people that the baby very well might be waiting until March and not to get their hopes up. What percent of first babies come before 39 weeks? Not that many!
Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
During the first half of the week, I felt like a worker bee, I was so energetic. I didn’t collapse after the five hour cleaning extravaganza on Sunday, then I managed to keep most of the dishes clean running down to the basement in the days afterwards. I spent all Wednesday at work and was rushing here and there trying to get enough done that I wouldn’t have to come back again that week. Turned out my code was too screwed up and I had to return for a couple hours on Thursday, but I was close.
I must have balanced out the energetic streak later in the week because I spent the next few days napping constantly and sleeping for ten or twelve hours at night. I would collapse on the couch around 8 pm, get up for an hour at 10, then sleep until 8 the next morning. Friday was particularly irritating with kitchen stuff and I ended up napping over lunch and suddenly everything was better.
The midwives keep saying that the most important things going into labor are to be well-rested and to be eating and drinking well. I figure that means I should nap if I feel like napping. I try to get up at 8 and start working soon after that, but I haven’t been that great about it.
Work Shower
On Wednesday, I had my shower at work. The office manager and one of the administrative assistants decked out a conference room with streamers and posters and balloons. They declared that the baby must be born in February because otherwise their color scheme didn’t make sense (they had lots of purple). My spot at the table was the only one with a tablecloth, plus more balloons, a placemat, and confetti (the confetti even matched the napkins—little cardboard pieces with purple rattles printed on them). Of course, everyone left the seats near mine open until there weren’t any left, so I had a whole part of the room to myself until the place filled up. Thanks guys.
It was a potluck—the office supplied chicken sandwiches and marble cake and people brought in chips and veggies and the rest. After most people had finished eating, they had me open gifts. Most of the office had chipped in and they gave me a check that will buy 2/3 of a Britax car seat. The office manager had made a “cake” out of baby blankets wrapped around cardboard, with each blanket as a tier, plus baby washcloths rolled into candles. Handy and creative! I also got a big, cuddly teddy bear (oh, did I say that? I meant that the BABY got a teddy bear =), a soft purple lamb, a rattle, a board book, and a silver-plated fork, spoon, and cup. Many people doled out advice, most of which consisted of “sleep now while you have the chance”. Considering that I’m one of the office’s newest employees and I’m pretty sure I’m the youngest, it was really nice to see all the people gather to wish me well and honor the kiddo.
We’re TRYING to Get the Car Seat!
Wednesday afternoon, Dan picked me up from work so I wouldn’t need to carry all the shower goodies home. We went to a local shop where I’d seen the Britax Roundabout with Becky after Christmas. They had a whole bunch of Marathons, but their only Roundabout (which is cheaper and will fit better in our small car) was pink. Hmm, no. They planned to order more on Saturday and said they’d call us when they arrived. So much for our attempt to get one right away.
The next day, I called another local shop to find out if they carried the Roundabout. Again, yes they carried it, but no, it wasn’t in stock.
Apparently, we’ll either have to go to BRU or wait until someone else has them available. We do have a baby bucket car seat, but we were hoping we could install both and only make one appointment to have them checked at the same time. It’s not as crucial as if we were planning a hospital birth because the baby won’t need to leave the house right away, but I’d feel a lot better knowing we had both seats safely installed pre-baby.
Ahh, So That’s What They’re Like!
One of Dan’s coworkers had a baby on January 25th and she’d told us that she’d love to have us visit sometime. Dan has been itching to try out the homemade baby wipe recipe that he learned in Bradley class, and decided that bringing some to Jamie would be the perfect gift. He hunted all over town before finding a plastic container to hold half a roll of paper towels to hold them.
Friday evening, we headed over to her house (after calling a couple days in advance) with the baby wipes and our sling. Little Sophie, nearly four weeks old, was a doll. She was somewhat awake while we were there and didn’t seem to mind who held her. She was born around 6 ½ lbs, so she still wasn’t too big. She had the curled-up ball o’ baby look. Her mom was happy for us to hold her and seemed really comfortable with new motherhood. I was impressed by how well she was doing a few weeks postpartum. Looking at her, you’d never guess she’d recently given birth. Since Sophie seemed to tolerate us pretty well, Dan asked if we could try the sling with her. He had some trouble getting the fabric arranged, but Sophie seemed pretty content. I didn’t even try since my belly’s too much in the way to get it adjusted well.
I was glad to have the opportunity to hold a new baby—I really haven’t been around tiny babies all that much. The last time was when my 2 year old niece was born, and I didn’t see her that often. Dan thought that Sophie’s movements reminded him of the way our baby moves, the way a limb will stretch out now and again. Seeing how she curled herself up was what really helped me connect to our baby—I know our baby is still all balled up like that and I could envision Sophie still being in the womb. I still think our having a baby is just too abstract to really understand until the baby is here, but visiting them helped make it seem a little more real.
We tried to not stay long—we didn’t want to break any of the guidelines we’ve been told to use ourselves. We were probably there for 45 minutes, but only because Jamie was talking and asking us things. She seemed happy to talk to other adults =)
Valentine’s Day
We had a fairly low-key Valentine’s. We couldn’t be completely sure that the baby wouldn’t arrive by then, and we’ve been eating out so much due to the kitchen renovation that going out didn’t sound so appealing. Early in the day, we ran separate errands. I hung out with some of the moms I know through a natural mothering site, then bought the arnica. Dan decided he was going to make orange chicken in the crockpot and had to buy supplies. We were able to spend the afternoon together, cooking and washing dishes, and just being home at the same time while it was light out. The chicken turned out really well. Dan managed to clear the dining room table off a little more, and it felt wonderful being able to eat a nice meal at home. We discovered that the sink wasn’t as functional as we’d been led to believe, but it was still possible to cook and clean without too much hassle. We exchanged cards, and he brought a dozen white roses home with him. He also gave me a knitting needle bag that he’d promised to give me at Christmas (hey, it’s only 7 weeks late) and a new pair of slippers. Other than delivering a baby, I couldn’t have asked for much more for Valentine’s.
And the House
A lot of little things happened throughout the week. On Monday, the ceiling was painted and the little patches where the walls’ blue paint had been mudded over were redone. On Tuesday, the electrician returned to try to get the sink drain set up. He got it to a point where it had a slight leak, but so long as the bucket remained under it, it was pretty good. Wednesday, rubber trim was placed around the countertop to fill the gap between the counter and the wall. They put it on the other counter too, by the stove, which actually keeps the cabinet from fitting to the wall, but that’ll hopefully be removed now that we’ve repeatedly told them we don’t like it. On Friday, the contractor tried fixing the sink drain, although we later realized that it would need to be completely redone. Workers also attached false panels to the sides of the cabinets (except for one, where the skin was missing—the manufacturer is sending a new one in a week) and lower trim around the low cabinets. Even though a whole lot didn’t get done that day, the sounds of saws cutting things all afternoon gave me hope that they were at least working hard on something. There was talk of assembling the bookshelves on Friday too, but the most that occurred was that the wood for the ten foot ones for the baby’s room was brought upstairs. The other shelves were all sitting in our porch waiting for trim to be added, so they’re almost ready. Still to come—the back door will be rehung, the sink needs to be fixed, the stove needs to have its gas pipe replaced, the upper trim has to be put up, and the cabinet next to the stove needs to be attached to something. Every week it gets closer and closer, but we’re never quite there. There are a few things that we plan to do ourselves, like paint the trim and polyurethane the counter edging. Dan figures it’ll just be easier to do those things himself then have the project drag on with the contractor any longer than necessary. At the end of the week, we hit one month of renovation time. It’s not what we hoped for, but so long as it all gets done, we’ll be okay.
Finally, after playing catch up all January and February, I’m all caught up! I plan to write a couple times a week from now until the baby’s born. We’ll find out eventually just how much longer that might be.
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