I look 37 weeks pregnant, and feel 40.  Zoey has dropped a bit more and grown enough to begin to make it hard for me to breathe again.  At my last appointment they checked for a blood clot in my leg – I had had a cramp that wouldn’t go away for over a week and was becoming short of breath.  Luckily there was no clot and the shortness of breath is most likely a mixture of weather and the big baby.  The ultrasonographer asked if I was having twins!  I am getting contractions stronger, longer and more regularly.  Hopefully this is a sign that I am going soon.  Thankfully there have been no more scary drops in heart rate and no bleeding.  These things never happened with my boys so I don’t know what to expect.  I went to the chiropractor also, hopefully this will make it easier to deliver the baby.  I have begun cleaning my house, organizing shelves and packing bags.  All the records I keep are up to date again.  All the baby things are sterilized, the baby room is fully set up.  I photographed all the stuff we got from friends and family so now I can finish organizing all of them into dressers and closets.  Nesting perhaps?

We drove to Santa Barbara to have Thanksgiving with Jason’s family, which was wonderful.  It was great meeting all of them, I love my future in laws!  They are all so funny, and sooo nice.  On the way back we stopped in LA for a bit and came across this awesome baby/kids store.  Some of the clothes had band logos on them, and the others were hilarious.  We picked up some things and went on our way.  Between the baby shower, friends, and what little shopping we’ve done, we now have the coolest kids in town!  All in all, its been a busy two weeks, and I am ready to lay back for a few days.  There isn’t much to update on baby-wise as I don’t have another appointment until 37 weeks.  She is still very active and is becoming more responsive, and of course she is wearing mommy out!  We’re officially ready for her so as of December 7th, she is welcome to make her appearance any time she wants!  I’ll probably be back to make another entry after the next appointment, assuming she hasn’t come already.  Until then, new pictures are on Facebook!

Ngantri nyorangan di Mitra Kel.. kali ini dpt nomor gede (28),jam 12an kurang dah di pendaftaran.. masih no 17 neh di dlm wew.. Papa Dan lg antri jg di plasa telkom,antrianna jg panjang,jd papa drop aku dulu trus balik lg ke plasa telkom.. (speedy rada reseh kl dibutuhin..huh).. Anyway..udah 35 weeks niyh…fyuhhh.. udah berasa berat and engap banget plus kl jalan jg dah linu2 gitu di sekitar ituhhhh heehhhhe..apalagi kl abis duduk agak lamaan.. dah susah bangun juga duhh..perut dah turun bgt,anak2 ktr katanya mpe serem liatnya wkwkwkwkkw… uhm jangan2 yg ini ga sampe due yg di perkirakan.. cud be earlier jangan2.. dah ga sabar juga biar cpt kelar urusan lahiran pgn cuti bgt neh… really bored.. tadi nimbang,BB na naek 1.5 kg wkkwkwkw.. trakhir kontrol turun 0.5kg skrng berlipat ganda naekna..huhuyyy.. emang trakhir2 ini nafsu ngemil kembali meraja di banding 2 minggu lalu..n lbh cpt laper si dede xixixiixix.. wondering,dsah brpa kg ya after 2 minggu ini si dede? *dr mulai dateng antrian baru bergulir satu nomor…bujug..* mudah2an ntar pas giliran papa dan udah kelar n dah balik lg ke sini.. *ngantuk* (:

I decided to venture outside for this self portrait…it was a little chilly! 

Specs
Camera: Canon 40D fitted with Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II lens @ 50mm, f/5.6, 1/200 sec., ISO 100
Light: Natural light in forest plus off-camera flash 580EX II Speedlite fired @ 1/8 power & 24mm zoom, 2 o’clock from camera’s perspective

No offense to the Christians out there, but I’m kind of getting to the point where I understand the “Virgin Birth”. Or at least the “Born Again Virgin Birth”. Because I’m not so much in the middle of a dry spell as in the middle of a scorching desert during a drought.

How long has it been? Oh, I’m guessing about a month and a half. Maybe two now. I think ever since I started gaining weight actually, the coitus has been pretty much interruptus. I reckon that in the last 6 months, N. and I have knocked boots maybe 5 times, give or take a few times here or there.  See what I mean?

I used to complain about it. I’d get all miffed and say things like, “You’re not attracted to me” and “You think I’m fat”. (He did call me the f-word, after all, so it wasn’t like I was just making shit up.) Which didn’t exactly inspire any hot and heavy activities between us. He told me he was tired, too busy, too stressed, wasn’t feeling healthy enough, wasn’t working out enough, etc. etc. etc.

And it wasn’t like I could persuade him with some kind of erotic prelude like lingerie or whatever. The underwire and I are not friends, and how am I supposed to act blithe and seductive when the simple act of rolling over winds me?

So I stopped asking.

Then, about a month ago I brought it up again.

Me: You know, we don’t really have sex anymore.

N.: I know. We should.

Me: But how? I mean, it’s kind of weird.

N.: Yeah, I know. I feel like there’s too much pressure. Shouldn’t we just let it happen naturally?

Me: Yeah. Let’s do that.

So, of course when you let something like that happen naturally, it doesn’t happen. Which lead me to ask again a week later:

Me: You know, we still haven’t had any sex.

N.: I know. I was thinking about that.

Me: What were you thinking?

N.: I mean, are you even allowed to have sex at this stage?

Me: Yes. Of course.

N.: Oh. Well. I guess we should start having sex.

But we didn’t start having sex. And so I brought it up a third time.

Me: Sex. You and me. It isn’t happening.

N.: Yeah…

Me: What’s going on?

N.: I dunno. It’s weird. It’s like I forgot how to.

Me: Oh. OK.

N.: Yeah.

So, that’s how we left it. He’s forgotten how to have sex, I would make a ridiculous seductress, and we’ve basically just shelved the entire topic for the time being. We didn’t even have sex on my birthday (not so much of a surprise- we didn’t have sex on my birthday last year either).

It sucks a lot because  a)(well, duh) I’m not having any sex and it makes me really cranky, and b) once the baby is born we can’t have sex for 6 weeks at least anyway. And might not be feeling like doing it even after that since I’ll be producing more gallons of milk than the Lactantia factory and won’t be getting much sleep.

And beyond this, we’re supposed to be doing this whole “perineal massage” dealie (gross, sorry, I know), and I don’t exactly feel all that comfortable having him do something so utilitarian when we’re not doing the other thing we used to do.  It’s bad because I’m totally closing up to the idea of any sort of intimacy with him…I feel too shy and too put out to bare all in any sort of adult manner.

That includes giving birth. I of course want N. there, but not looking at, you know, it actually happening. He can stand by my shoulders and let the midwife handle the gross stuff.  I don’t even feel comfortable being topless around him, so I’ll probably be braving the sweats and heat in a t-shirt or something.

And not to sound vain, but it really sucks when the one person in the world that you want to feel attractive to just, well, doesn’t find you all that attractive.

28 years old, and so long sex life. It was fun while it lasted.

Nate and I went to the MI ball tonight.  It’s not every day you get to dress up so we had fun with it.  They had dinner catered and Comedy Sportz provided the entertainment.  Neither was the best ever, but good.  Nate had to wear a “modified Class A” uniform so a white shirt instead of green and a bow tie instead of a straight one.  Now, if you know anything about Nate and ties it’s that he takes them very seriously.  There was to be no pre-tied clip on for him.  Oh no.  We bought a real one and he learned how to tie it.  Pretty sweet, eh?

We didn’t take our camera with us to the dinner so we took pictures when we got home.  Our attempt at taking one of us together didn’t work out too well.  Man, my belly is getting big, isn’t it?  I don’t think I realize just how big it is.  I think I’m as big as I was about as a month ago but…yeah, baby is definitely bigger.  35 weeks – only 5 more to go!  Oh, and his name is Peter.

35 weeks old and nearly as many words about ready erupt from little Jack’s mouth.  It seems that since the birth of his first tooth, Jack has decided he’s ready to begin his baby babbling stage.  He babbles at Mommy and Daddy, but he also babbles at his toys and Max.  The only things that interrupt his strings of “babababa, yayayaya, gagaga, ohohohoho”s are giggles from a smiling mouth.

Feeling on my new tooth

One of Jack’s latest favorite things is being startled.  What once made his cry in fear now causes an explosion of laughter and smiles.  This weekend, after a game of startle and giggle, Daddy determined Jack will definitely be the type to enjoy a good roller coaster.  This is very exciting for Mommy – I’ll have someone to go on Splash Mountain with at Disney World!  After our Honeymoon at Disney World and Daddy’s first trip on Splash Mountain, he proclaimed it was his last.

Each day, more and more of our Little Man’s personality is revealed.  When our darling little boy isn’t trying out his vocal styling and giggling his cute little booty off, he is simply sitting quietly trying to figure out one of his toys – in quiet contemplation.  If the toy makes noise, he spends a great deal of time turning it over and inspecting it to see where the noise is coming from.  In fact, even toys that are beyond his age he finds fascinating as long as he can manipulate it.  We discovered this while at Babies ‘R Us over the weekend.  He is constantly in search of a new discovery and a new adventure.

Thankfully Jack is always up for a new adventure because this week Mommy added a new activity to the mid-day schedule, baths.  Prior to this week, I had never bathed Jack.  I had always let this be a special activity for Daddy and Jack, but with Jack spending more and more time scooting around and Daddy and Jack having less time in the evening for baths, Mommy thought it was time to step up to the tub.  The first couple of baths I gave him were in the sink, like the baths Daddy gives Jack, but then I decided it was time to move to the duck tub in Jack’s quacktastic bathroom.  Not only did Jack survive, but he had fun!  Mommy got a little wet, but all was well in the end.

Saturday brought forth a milestone.  Jack’s first tooth decided to make its appearance, just a day shy of his 8 month birthday.  It’s barely poking out, but it is there nonetheless.  I’ll try not to dwell on my typical, “my baby is growing up too fast” feelings, but . . . my baby is growing up too fast!  It is only one tooth, but one leads to two, which leads to three and before you know it he’s graduating from college. .

Looking very much like a little boy, instead of a baby

The emergence of Jack’s tooth on Saturday explained a lot of his grumpiness over the past few days, especially on Friday.  Friday, Oma came to visit for a few hours after she got off of work.  This was the first time we had seen her since school had started, so it was great to have her over.  Unfortunately, Little Man wasn’t in his usual good mood.

On the bright side, Jack was in a splendid mood for the Sunday kickoff of the NFL season!  He even had a special football outfit for the occasion.  Unfortunately, neither Mommy’s nor Daddy’s games played in our area, but there is always next week!  In addition to wearing a special outfit with what looks like Pippi wearing a football uniform, Daddy went out and bought Jack a mini football.  He had a blast with it.

I like this football stuff

Put me in coach, I'm ready

So, one tooth, an 8 month birthday, and a lot of adventures and babbles later, it’s fair to say we had an eventful, but very good week.

3 more days until snip snip! Super duper YAY! I’m getting excited with everyday that goes by.  I made an executive decision to quit my 17-P shots a little early because I figured the docs aren’t gonna stop me now if I go into labor so why should I be taking the shots to help relax my uterus anymore and delay the inevitable. The shots did their job in preventing me from having really early pre-term labor and from laboring with the stitches in.  They are cutting the stitches in 3 days since they know my body is already gearing up for the big day.

Thank you 17-P, but your job is done and I am eternally grateful. Next on the chopping block is the cerclage.

I was recently thinking of all the things I’ve learned while pregnant that I didn’t know.

• Hyperpigmentation. In certain areas, I have demarcation lines of where my skin got considerably darker.  Even in places that don’t usually see the sun.
• Loose hips.  My hips are sore all the time.  Getting out of bed is a painful.  I feel like I need a bilateral total hip replacement.
• Skin growths, such as skin tags or this tiny little wart on the left side of my nose that was never there before.
• Overwhelming fatigue, even when doing nothing at all.  I have spent many days in bed (such a wonderful luxury to not work) only to pass out watching a great show.  I keep missing the end!
• Too much time on your hands isn’t always a good thing. I had every intention to read and be more knowledgeable regarding work stuff, but I’ve been off for 20 weeks and haven’t looked at anything work related. Baby girl is all that matters.

But still, I am very grateful to God to get this far (35w6d) and the overall experience is a blessing.

I  have a few more little things to add to what I already have and then I can truly kick back and wait.

Now we’re getting down to the wire. I think it’s cute how exactly 35 weeks = 35 days left. Great job MeMe! 7 days until the Cerclage Removal!

Only new pregnancy symptom is softer movements. Her kicks aren’t always as hard since she’s running out of room. But key thing is she’s still moving. I’m super watchful about that.

No appointment this week. Just trying to clean up after Dom was here for the weekend. My bedroom is a mess and vacuuming/organizing is a must. I’m afraid to let MeMe hang out in here since it’s so crazy.

We took Dom to a party down in SD. It was nice with caterers cooking food in the backyard, professional DJ and a bouncy house for the kiddies. The host went all out. It was a celebration of their fairly new house(1 year) and new baby (born in July).

The conversation of the evening just happened to be about nursing school. I am so glad I am done with that. The schools around here have waiting lists becuz everyone wants to be a nurse. Been there and done that. I went to school in LA and there were no wait lists. I’ve been licensed for 6 years working with cardiac patients. One chick my age has 2 yrs left of school. She learned too late that nursing was the way to go. Her mom was pissed that she wasted her time getting a BA in communications. Even the host was trying to get some info for his wife since he was trying to get her into nursing. I am so glad that I did all that hard work a long time ago. Now, I can just chill.

I’m now 35 weeks pregnant and it’s time for my weekly Bump Report – although I feel like I’ve been talking about my pregnancy all week – if it weren’t for babycenter.com’s handy little info to quote, this post might seem kind of redundant. Yup – I’m still huge – yup, it sucks. Yup – I’m seriously wishing it was July 21. Yup – I’m still looking for guest posts for the week of Baby Blueberry’s birth. Yesterday I went through all the baby clothes we’ve got to see what we had in the 0-3 month range – we are totally covered as far as onesies go and we have a good small collection of those baby gowns / baby in a bags, but we’ll definitely need more eventually – especially because MM’s old baby clothes became significantly less gender neutral after that 0-3 month marker. Unless we find out Baby Blueberry has boy bits, we’ll have to figure that out. But you know, I’m pretty sure that’s to be expected. MM needs new clothes, too, but we’re trying to play dumb just a little while longer.

I’m thinking I want to finish clearing the last of the moving clutter from the living room / dining room and turning the corner that is currently “miscellaneous stuff” into a sort of baby center. We can put up our pack and play to serve as a second sleeping area until the crib goes up (we’re using the co-sleeper for the first few months) and have the baby swing and whatever other things we find need a home along that wall. It will at least make the area look less like wasted space and more like well needed baby space. Win, win? I’m sure Dan will be thrilled I’ve come up with more manual labor for him to do.

I think that’s all the new and big from my end without crying woe is me a bit longer about all the cramps and back pains and leg pains and small bladder complaints that are obviously still bugging me. So let’s get on with the developments from babycenter.com, shall we?

BB doesn’t have much room to maneuver now that she’s over 18 inches long and tips the scales at 5 1/4 pounds (pick up a honeydew melon). Because it’s so snug in your womb, she isn’t likely to be doing somersaults anymore, but the number of times she kicks should remain about the same. Her kidneys are fully developed now, and her liver can process some waste products. Most of her basic physical development is now complete — she’ll spend the next few weeks putting on weight.

How MY life’s changing:

My uterus — which was entirely tucked away inside my pelvis when I conceived — now reaches up under my rib cage. If I could peek inside my womb (yuck), I’d see that there’s more baby than amniotic fluid in there now. My ballooning uterus is crowding my other internal organs, too, which is why I have to urinate more often and may be dealing with heartburn and other gastrointestinal distress.

This Week’s Activity:

Prepare food to eat after your baby’s born. If you cook, start doubling recipes and freezing half. You and your partner will be too exhausted to cook in the first weeks after you bring your baby home and you’ll be thrilled to have healthy meals you can heat up fast. If you don’t cook, go around your neighborhood and pick up all the takeout and delivery menus you can find. You’ll be grateful for all the options at your fingertips. (Anyone wanna do this for me?)

They also recommend getting birth announcements ahead of time and addressing the envelopes, finding stamps etc. together now. Totally smart advice but highly unlikely that I’ll do it – Can’t I just send a mass email?

There is so much to update. I expected Elizabeth to blog about some of these things, such as her release from bed rest, but I guess her release from bed rest has released her ability or enthusiasm for blogging, as well!

(made by YiaYia Boosalis to represent her daughters)

A couple weekends ago, the Boosalis parents visited.

That was during the two weeks when Elizabeth was allowed up 3 hours each day. So we went to church, out to sushi and pizza (different nights):

We also received a shipment of diapers that weekend:

Elizabeth tried teaching LC about country music:

And the pregnant one bid farewell to Bed Rest Central:

At the next doctor’s visit, Dr. Ahn said “you’re free as a bird,” and Bed Rest Central was put to rest. Yippee!

After a short work week, the Boosalis grandparents and Miner aunt came for another visit. This time Papou Boosalis opted against sushi and we tried the Chicago Brauhaus, instead, for some German food. It was much more to his liking.

We came home at some point and had a laptop-off. I think I won. You can see the pain on my face – “no pain, no gain.”

It is Boosalis tradition to go to the Original Pancake House in Hyde Park. I have enjoyed this place a few times, but I tire of the wait and don’t think it’s worth the cost. I suggested another location, Daley’s, and I think it was much liked, as well. It has a richer local history (perhaps the oldest eatery in Chicago – and Greek!).

“Don’t touch my food or I’ll propeller your nose!”

Then the sisters and the cousins said “adieu.”

And it was soon thereafter 35 weeks!

Stay tuned. Elizabeth will be making a post soon, methinks.

~Eric

I read on a pregnancy website this week that mum to be doesn’t really gain any more weight from now until the baby is born.  Well, I didn’t hang around in taking advantage of this little gem and headed straight to the shops, coming home with a Solero, a bag of Jelly Babies, some chocolate buttons and a double decker.  An episode of Ramsays Kitchen Nightmares and a cup of tea later and there was little left other than a few chocolate buttons which I some how had the will power to save thinking they would be a good 3pm pick me up for the following day.

Not sure that this behaviour should really see me rewarded with no further weight gain!

Had a very much needed visit from my lovely hairdresser who always takes me from straggly mess to smooth and sleek once more.  My hair hasn’t really done any of the blooming that I might have hoped for during pregnancy.  It’s pretty much stopped growing, gone quite dry, and refuses to get greasy between washing.  Shame.

Still swimming – again can’t recommend this highly enough to any other mummies to be, it’s so relaxing.  I was doing yoga too, and although I found the lying down and sleeping bit at the end for 10 minutes heavenly, I can do that at home and save myself £6.50 a week.  My husband joined me at the pool this week which was fun, apart from when he overtook me and went too fast – had to educate him on the slow lane etiquette.

Definitely starting to feel a little more tired now.  Working, although I’m based at home is more of a challenge.  My brain just doesn’t seem to make the logical connections it used to!  I have to come up with lots of original, innovative ideas for clients and at the moment it’s proving pretty tough!  Most good ideas seem to come to me while I’m asleep, sometimes I have a notepad and pen by the bed, if not then these award winning ideas drift away with my dreams.  The ones I do manage to note down and usually illegible and somewhat random too.

I’m still nesting like mad, this week it’s been al fresco – getting the garden under control, how it happened is beyond me, but it’s a jungle out there.  I do know actually – months of neglect and a lot of rain.  Luckily my parents are green fingered and came to lend a hand.  At nearly 8 months pregnant my shrub uprooting skills are not the best, good to have some help on hand!  I retired for squash and biscuits after the pole holding up the washing line fell down and cracked me on the head.  A few tears but I survived.

Had a midwife appointment on Saturday to have my second injection of anti-D (in my bottom, not impressed), because my blood group is rhesus negative.  Apparently I need to have some positive blood injected so that there are no complications during the birth.  Think that’s the basics of it.

So we headed to Brighton on the train and had a fantastic night away!  The weather was amazing, we ate loads of great food – my face when the waitress at the hotel told us we could choose as many things from the menu as we wanted was a picture!  Crunchy nut cornflakes, a fruit platter and a stack of blueberry muffins with maple syrup later and I’d conserved enough energy to explore the whole of Brighton – twice.

Or a stroll round the lanes, before lunch!

Came home shattered but had such a lovely time!

That’s it for this week – next week officially 8 months pregnant – better check my hospital bag has everything in it and start figuring out how all these gadgets we have work – sterilisers, baby monitors….

I don’t talk about this alot in this blog so I thought I would take a moment to do so. I am 35 weeks pregnant, It feels like I just found out, that we just had our gender scan and now here we are in the final stages of pregnancy. She could make her debut in as little as 3 weeks (38 weeks is term) and I am completely blown away at how fast this pregnancy has gone. There were moments where I felt like it dragged on but looking back I think “Wow that was quick”.

Let me fill in some blank details. We are expecting a girl, she is due in the beginning of March, this is our first child. My husband and I have been married for 4 years and have wanted a baby ever since. You never know how hard these little things could be to achieve, its not all they tell you in school. After alot of heartache and pain and sacrifice (emotionally/physically/money) We were surprisingly blessed on July 10th, 2008 to find out we were going to be parents. I don’t like to think that the money we spent trying to make it happen was a waste but a vital step that helped pave the way.

Anyway, The nursery is done, we have it all organized. Her bathroom is complete, we have a few last little things to get but everything is ready to go. I even washed SOME (not all) of her clothes and packed her bag. I am completely ecstatic to finally meet her and see what she looks like, I think that is one of the most amazing things EVER.

Oh and let me tell you everyone and their mom has to either give you advice or comment on your prego belly. It can sometimes be quite frustrating. Just today I had a girl just stare at my belly telling me how big i was. Why thank you, if you had a 5lb baby in your belly what exactly would you expect it to look like? I am just wondering..really. Then she proceeded to say it must be because I am all belly because she couldn’t tell i was pregnant until I turned around. I guess that was a compliment………. Anyway. Counting it down!

I had my doctor visit yesterday and my due date was pushed back to the original date.. Feb. 3rd. Errrrr…. She’s  not sure why the other doctor told me otherwise. Oh well, 5 weeks to go now. I feel like I went through time 2 weeks and now just returned. Hahah. My next visit is Tuesday (and every Tuesday after that). This is where the fun begins, check for dilation. Ooooo fun times!

Well, really, it’s been kind of a crazy few days.

Sam is kind of unpredictable sometimes. Just when I think I have his schedule figured out, it changes. And those changes make me worry that something is wrong. Sam has been active pretty predictably every night at around 11pm. Well, on Friday night he wasn’t very active (hadn’t really been all day), but I just kind of filed that little observation away in my brain as a hmm. On Saturday morning I went to a Christmas brunch with the women’s ministry at lunch, and he was pretyy active right after I got done eating (which is pretty normal for him) but then he was really, really quiet for the rest of the day. In addition, at about 6:30pm, I started having contractions. Nothing major, nothing that hurt, just contractions. Only they wouldn’t go away. Tim and I watched a movie and used Contraction Master to time them. They weren’t getting regular, but they were sort of close together — anywhere from 5 or 6 minutes apart, to 11 or 12 minutes apart. They were lasting a while, too — at least a minute for most of them, with some as long as 2 or 2.5 minutes. Normally, with Braxtion Hicks, I drink some water, lie on my left side and they fizzle out. Well, I tried that and they weren’t going away, although they weren’t growing closer together either, and although some were sort of intense, they weren’t REALLY intense.

Needless to say, I was confused. Was this labor? False labor? Signs were ambiguous. But I didn’t want to assume that it wasn’t labor and have it be labor if it could be stopped, you know?

So after 5 hours of these contractions, I decided to call the midwife on call. It wasn’t Barb, but another awesome midwife. She called me back and we talked for a while. She recommended I take a warm bath and drink some herbal tea and call her back in an hour. Well, the bath and the tea seemed to work, because the contractions fizzled out. So, at around 1:30am, we finally went to sleep.

After the night we had, we skipped church this morning. We woke up and made some breakfast, but I was still worried because Sam was really very quiet still. He loves breakfast almost as much as I do, and usually kicks like crazy afterwards, or at least has hiccups. Well, there wasn’t any movement. I could poke him and he’d sort of reluctantly move, but it was just weird and not like he normally moves. I tried to lie still for a while on my left side and do kick counts and they were a little low — at least for me. His movements were very faint, too. I really had to concentrate in order to feel anything — and normally his kicks and jabs and flips and twists are fairly violent.

So, Friday being inactive, Saturday being inactive plus contractions that wouldn’t let up, and Sunday morning being inactive all made me nearly sick with worry. I decided to call the midwife on call again. She recommended that I drink something sugary like hot cocoa, take a brisk walk, and then lie down and do kick counts again. Tim and I did those things, and he was still not moving very much at all. At this point I was crying and Tim and I made the decision to go to Ball Memorial for a nonstress test just to set my mind at ease.

Of course, as soon as we got to the hospital and got hooked up to the monitor, he started kicking like crazy. He apparently just wanted to make me frantic with worry and then be fine. I’m sure when he is 5 and hiding in the clothes racks at Wal-Mart and I can’t find him, I will feel the same way.

They also monitored my uterine activity. According to our nurse, I have an irritable uterus. I don’t know what this means. The nurse kind of annoyed me — she said that she thought I had a big baby, and that the reason my uterus was irritable was because it was so big. They checked my cervix though — and I was not dilated or effaced at all. So apparently this uterine irritability hasn’t been doing anything to my cervix. I was kind of hoping that at least for all of this I would be a little bit effaced or something.

Anyway, I have to go in for an appointment this week. I am scheduled for an appointment a week from tomorrow, but the doctor on call (who would deliver if we needed to transfer to the hospital) said that I needed to be seen earlier than that. I am starting to wonder if my dates are off. Maybe it’s just because of all the comments I get all the time starting to get to me. But if I am further along than we think I am, I would like to know.

It’s been a crazy 24 hours, and I am super tired.

It’s been quite a busy week on the baby front …

later rearranged to spell "CAN RATS GO APE!"

Sunday – My Boston gal pals threw me a lovely baby shower.  It was so awesome to have (most of) my best girlfriends in the same room at the same time, especially since many of them never cross paths.  We had a lot of fun eating yummy food (and rearranging some of it to spell funny things – “CAN RATS GO APE!“), “ooo”ing and “awww”ing at cute monkey outfits and stuffed polar bears (AKA “Buddy Bear”), and chatting about Baby Lump.  Thanks to everyone who came, and a special thanks to Kara who hosted the party and made tons of delicious, homemade food!  Mmm – spinach and artichoke dip …

Monday – I had my 35th week doctor appointment, where I withstood a pleasant little group B strep screening, found out that according to the ultrasound Baby Lump is in the 40th percentile size-wise and also learned I’ve been experiencing Braxton Hicks contractions unbeknownst to me.  For some reason – I guess I didn’t pay close enough attention to this part during our natural childbirth class – I was under the impression that Braxton Hicks contractions were supposed to be discomforting or painful, when in reality, they don’t have to be.  Apparently all those times I’ve called James over to “Feel how incredibly hard/tight my belly is!” I’ve actually been having Braxton Hicks contractions … who knew?

Tuesday – James and I took a tour of the labor/delivery and postpartum floors at the hospital.  It was really comforting to familiarize ourselves with the hospital, and it was especially fun imagining how we would be back there again soon to meet Baby Lump! We keep joking that Baby Lump’s ETA sounds sort of like a shipping date (“expected time of delivery – two to six weeks”).  The coolest part about the tour, however, was when were strolling past the NICU and one of the nurses brought out a one month old, 4 lb. premature baby girl (of a set of triplets) who was getting ready to go home in the next couple of days.  Definitely the smallest being we’ve ever seen, and completely adorable.  But man – imagine having to spend one whole month without your newborn!  It made me very thankful that Baby Lump should be coming on time.

Oven Timer: 35 weeks, 4 days

So much for my boring checkups.  Yesterday’s checkup was very “exciting” to say the least….

• Protein in urine
• HIGH blood pressure
• very very swollen hands/feet/legs

(Class…can you say preeclampsia?)

So I was sent (very very quickly…one would almost say “rushed”) for blood tests, an NST, and additional monitoring over at the hospital. Oh, and he gave me an RX for blood pressure meds.

The monitoring went okay and I was released later on.  BUT, I’ve been told to take it easy and they’ll check everything next week.  And if things don’t get better…or if they get worse…Thor is going to be making his appearance within the next two weeks (probably will have a scheduled induction during the first week of November)

— As an added note from this morning, blood pressure meds are making me feel really yucky. Still alive though (LOL). But feel like I shouldn’t be. ugh. As if pregnancy weren’t “fun” enough, right?

Off to try and eat something…then rest. I think that’s about all I’ll be doing for the next week or so…resting.