Okay. Pouty-me is gone. Sane and (mostly) rational me is back. 8 and a half more weeks still seems like a long time to wait, but I’ve regained a sense of perspective and hopefully that will last me awhile now.
I am in full-swing get-ready-for-baby-mode now (yes, the alternate word for this is Nesting). Honestly, right now, it’s kind of a self-preservation thing, considering that fully half of our (medium-sized) living room is taken over by disorganized piles of baby stuff. It needs to start finding homes! Plus, guess what?!?!? We got our crib! Shorty put it together and now it’s sitting in the nursery waiting for us to figure out how in the heck to organize all the other baby stuff we’ve got. We went with a mini crib instead of a standard crib, given that our nursery (and all the other rooms in our house) are pretty small since this house is like, 100 years old. I love it and now all it needs is a mattress and a baby to put in it!
the crib! plus you can see the blue color we painted the nursery walls. =)
We also got our changing table for upstairs, since for the first few months the baby will be sleeping upstairs with us anyways in the Arms’ Reach sleeper. So really, although we still need some of the little stuff that we’re hoping to get at the baby shower (socks, baby hygiene items, burb cloths, etc) I think we can safely say that our list of “big” items is all checked off now! That’s pretty exciting, and even more exciting to know that there’s nothing standing in the way of me and my organizing/nesting instinct now except… well, nothing! Let the nesting begin!
Another part of getting ready for baby includes all the conversations that are happening now about birth plans, details, etc. I am one of those people who likes to know exactly what I’m getting into… or as close as possible to “exactly.” So all those vague details about home birthing and the images I have floating around my head of our home water birth and labor… I’d really like to start getting those ironed out into solid details now, please and thanks. Details like WHEN do we get the birthing pool (midwife supplied), exactly WHAT supplies we need to be getting ready, etc. I know it’s a bit early yet (after all, if anything were to happen in the next 4 weeks we would be hospital-bound, since our midwife doesn’t start home births until 36 weeks) but that doesn’t make the urge to “get ready” any less. I want to KNOW what is coming and start organizing, dammit! Our midwife also has a list of needed home birth supplies that she gives her clients and all I remember from it is “swaddling blankets and towels-” hence, we have many of these items ready (bought second hand so we don’t care about ruining them) but virtually nothing else! I’m itching to get started. 🙂
Finally, besides baby-gear-and-birth-supply-gathering, we have some questions to ask our midwife about her homebirth policies, how to handle inductions if and when they are needed, etc. Our midwife sees clients every 4 weeks up to 36 weeks, then every two weeks up to 40 weeks, then every week after that, which is all well and good by us. However, she has in the past mentioned that she lets clients go up to 43 weeks, at which point if there is still no baby she offers a fetal growth scan to check on the baby and a sweep. This is the part that I have questions with, since I have such a strong feeling that this baby will be overdue rather than early (and there’s no way to know if I’m right or not until he arrives!). Shorty and I have talked and we both agree that we are comfortable with two weeks overdue, but not three, and certainly not without any fetal monitoring in between the forty week and forty three week marks. I’ve read a lot of studies, including one from Canada that looked at over 1700 women and babies who went overdue, and each study has agreed that while from 40-42 weeks, there isn’t any statistically significant change in fetal or maternal complications resulting from later deliveries, at the 42 week mark there is a slightly increased risk and at 43 weeks there is a significantly increased risk of complications due to post-maturity. I am personally not comfortable (and neither is Shorty) with even the “slightly-increased” risk category and so, at our next appointment (34 weeks) I will be asking about the timeline of events post-due date. Also, I feel like I should mention that I feel more strongly about this since we KNOW our due date is exact- it would be different if we weren’t sure and could be off by a week or so either way, but since when we reach 40 weeks we will KNOW we are exactly 40 weeks, and the same with 41 and 42 weeks, etc… I’m less comfortable with the idea of 43 weeks than I might otherwise be. Does that make sense?
So all of that falls under the category of “getting ready for baby” and it’s nice to have tasks that need doing to help pass the time. Also, we have our “at home” baby shower next weekend (since our last one was in California if you remember :)) and I’m greatly looking forward to that as well. A friend is hosting it for us at her house and it’s a combo baby shower/pool party- not at all sure how that’s going to work out but I’m betting it’ll be fun!
I’m still feeling fine and doing well this pregnancy, symptom-wise… the worst thing I’ve had is heartburn and even that has been mild. No stretch marks on my belly proper, though my poor thighs and hips are suffering, and my boobs haven’t grown too much more I feel like in spite of the fact that they are now leaking colostrum (I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: sexy!). I did fall over the other day (on my rear, luckily)… I was trying to bend down to plug something in and I overbalanced (easy to do when you have a bowling ball attached to the front of you, I’ve found) and TIMBERRRRRR! Down I went. It was at work and everyone saw me land on my ass… luckily, I wasn’t hurt but I was definitely a bit embarrassed! Ah, well. But other than feeling like a beached whale any time I have to roll myself over in bed or get up off the couch or, well, do anything (who knew such simple tasks could be so hard?!)- I’m doin’ just fine!
Here’s a belated 31 weeks bumpdate, actually taken at 31+1, to reward you for making it through this colossal post! Hope you’re doing well, Blogland.
bowling ball? beach ball? beached whale?
lezbemoms 